Crochet Doily Pillows

I was making a crochet doily pillow for my booth and thought I would share how I make them.

Pillows have always been a big seller in my booth and one of my favorite things to make.  The sky is the limit on creativity!

Isn't this little girl darling, of course I got her from Graphic Fairies (I think we should have a Graphic Fairies appreciation day)

I will walk you through making this little french pillow.  Now, this is how I do it, I figured it out through trial and error.  I am sure there is many other ways.

I start with a plain vintage doily, never throw them out if they have a stain or a hole! Just throw them my way!!!

I downloaded and resized a Paris soap label (From Graphic Fairies)

Then copied it onto fabric, the tutorial is Here

Now, center your doily over the fabric image.

You need to leave the center of the doily intact in order to keep it's shape

Now, there are a few ways to center it.

Some images are easy to see though the fabric and you can just center it.

You could hold it up to the light.

You could put a pin in the center of the doily and match it to the center of your image.

I put mine over a flash light because the image was so light and I wanted to get the lettering centered.

Now, give the center of your doily a light spray of adhesive.

Be sure not to spray the crochet edge as it will gum up your needle.........Hum, wonder how I know this?

Sew right along the edge, on the crochet, as close as you can get without sewing into the fabric.. 

You know those awards they give for blog photography....I'm not getting one! 

Now, carefully cut away the doily center as close as you can get without cutting into the crochet.  

Here you have it, now lets put it on the pillow.

I found my heavy tan linen fabric, actually a shower curtain, at Ikea.  It was in the discount area for $1.50 because the hem was out, oh we love a deal!

Once again put a little temporary adhesive in the center of the doily then lay it on your pillow fabric and set your machine to a baste stitch.  Sew the outside of the doily.

You may have to occasionally leave the needle down and raise the presser foot as you sew, as it tends to bunch up.

So there you have it! I added vintage crochet down each side.

Don't limit yourself to pictures, you could use corresponding fabrics, putting the big rose in the center and using the smaller pattern for the pillow or you could insert a cross stitch or embroidered piece in the center of the doily

I will put these pillows in my booth and price this one at

                                    $22.00

This one for

$16.00

I made this one was made out of a vintage table runner and I will price it for

 $14.00

 Whenever I read blogs I always wonder how much they charge for an item that they have posted about.  I find myself enlarging their pictures and standing on my head trying to read a price tag that is attached! LOL

If you follow my blog you have figured out, all of my secrets are out of the closet, The Polka Dot Closet that is!

Happy Creating!

Carol

Making a Graffiti Memory Pillow

I just got back back to Orlando after a vacation to see family in Minnesota.  I grew up in Minnesota then moved to Florida 20 years ago.  The whole time I was home it was cloudy, cold (compared to Orlando) and rainy.  Lets just say it is not the Sunshine State, but the people are bright and sunny!

I went to my niece Stephanie's high school graduation party.  Besides the much loved gift of $$$$ I made her a memory pillow.  Now, with teenagers you never know what they will like, but it was a huge hit with my niece and her friends.  Since she lives out of state I had no idea what her favorite things were!  So, I went to Facebook and there it was.....Her favorite show, food, restaurants, movie star, sport, etc.  

Bingo!  Anything we want to know about someone we can find!

I was thinking of other occasions you could give a Graffiti Memory Pillow.  This could be filled with the names of friends, family members, classmates, pets, sports teammates?

Going off to college

Summer Camp

A long hospitalization

Moving away

Kindergarden, grade school, middle school graduation

I embroidered this onto the pillow, but not everyone has an embroidery sewing machine.  You could easily type it all out and copy it onto fabric.

Are you interested in a tutorial on how to copy onto fabric next week?