Oh Sew Thrifty: January 2011

If you are lucky enough to live in a city with a decorator fabric warehouse, then you probably accumulate a collection of samples before you choose your final fabrics. Don't throw these little treasures away! Use them to make a pillow to coordinate with the room you are designing. I used the dollar sized samples I cut while searching for fabric when making both of these pillows.

Disclaimer - I am a rule follower and my samples are usually quite small and rarely over the requested dollar bill size. The stems on the first pillow are from left over textured vinyl purchased for purse handles. The reptile texture looks very bark like in person. The flower has a mixture of samples and fabrics I had on hand.

Sort and store your samples by color and you will be ready when it is time to create that accent pillow that makes the room. And it is practically free!!

This pillow should look familiar!

It is the one I was taking apart when I posted last. I didn't like the light linen background on the original pillow so I took it apart and added the silk in its place. I also made the center as small as I could. It was a total pain and took way longer then I thought, but I like it so much better.

Between Christmas and New Years the stars aligned. Kids were busy, husband had football, and I had an endless supply of fabric and energy! The first place to start was our master bedroom. It has been devoid of color for the past 2 years waiting for me to make a final decision on color. While Christmas shopping I found 3 remnants at Forsyth Fabrics. (Why was I at Forsyth Fabrics when I was Christmas shopping? Because I was in the area and can't help myself!) They were already well priced but I lucked into a 25% off sale. The 3 fabrics totalled only about $16. (I also bought a linen piece I hope to show you soon that brought the grand total to $20.)

As I contemplated how to use these fabrics I decided I could surprise my husband with the much needed color he's been asking for in our bedroom. At $16, it was not a huge commitment. I headed to TJMaxx where I found the perfect accent pillow ($20) as well as a throw for the bed ($20). I was getting one of those "this was meant to be" buzzes from how quickly this was coming together. I selected 2 pictures that I thought could go over the bed and 4 for the laundry room. It is hard for me to spend money, but when I start feeling like everything is falling into place, I loosen up a little.

I got home and laid it all out in the room. Loved the textiles. Hated the pictures. They went right back so no pictures of those. (Loved the ones for the laundry room and got them hung during my burst of activity over the holidays.) I decided to create my own paintings for over the bed.

Of course, I left everything spread out and left for only a quick Christmas errand. Dear husband came home for lunch!!! End of the surprise. He pretended not to see, but the thrill was gone. No time before the holidays to finish these projects anyway so I gave him beautiful wine glasses for Christmas.

First, I took two canvases out of storage I'd tried to paint last year but never liked. Sallie, an artist friend, advised me that they needed more contrast and some red to make them pop. So my first step was to paint them black, brown, blue and red to make a base. While that dried I started on my sewing.

From the chenille I made two European shams with Turkish corners. The flower pillow was a little of a disappointment and I have already taken it apart to "fix" it. Will post the results. Then for a little masculine touch a rectangle one for the other side of the bed. I reused some stuffing and two pillow forms left over from a retail business I had a few years ago. Then I finished the paintings but had to buy hardware ($4) to hang them.

Total out of pocket for the new look - $60!