Oh, Pillow.

I got crafty over the weekend with my sewing machine. I've had a few spats with the ol' Singer in the past, but I was pretty confident that everything would run smoothly this time since my mom set it up for me correctly I'm such a pro now.

Let me show you my creation. Dum-dada-dum!

Ignore the wrinkles. Sometimes I'm too impetuous to dabble in the details. Plus, they'll smooth out when I lay on them. That's love, folks. I owe my success to the creator of a GREAT video tuturial, found here, at a blog called The Crafty Gemini. Thank you to Vanessa for making this, because I literally followed your instructions to the T and everything worked perfectly.

I won't detail the instructions here, because her video is much better than anything I could write up. I'll do a little picture parade though--a photojourney of sorts.

Singer Prelude

Back pieces of fabric pinned, ready to hem.



With pulp.



"Good thing this is a test piece"

Oh, right, the presser foot would help.



Machine working. Check.


 

Both back edges hemmed. Three pieces of fabric lined up to
sew around the perimeter of my pillow, inside-out.

 

Pinned.

Done sewing. About ready to flip to the right side.

Tada!



Envelope opening in back.

There you have it. I made the first pillow in about an hour, which is not bad for my first attempt (and much shorter than the two days it took me to make my first-ever curtain panel). Oh, and I did say "first pillow". That's right. I'm nothing if not utilitarian. I planned to make covers for my triangle-covered, came-with-the-sofa pillows, but I fell in love with the last 39" of this fabric (for $6.99) and it just wasn't going to cover two (they're 21" pillows). I played with the idea of making one pillow, but the thought of wasting 1/3 of my fabric on scraps irked me (read: it's not going to happen).

No fears, math to the rescue! (oh boy) I looked in my closet and found a pair of smaller orange pillows that matched nothing in the new house, and I determined that I could make two covers at this size with very little fabric to spare. Each pillow used  18.5"x22.5" piece, so I used a total of 37"x45 out of a 39"x45" piece of fabric.

That's math, people! Two for the price of one.