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Tuesday, May 20, 2014

DIY No Sew Union Jack Pillow....

I’ve always loved the look of  Union Jack Pillows. There are so many ways to personalize them to fit your own decor style that I thought I’d give it a try. Time being of the essence these days, I decided to take a shortcut and use a ready-made pillow that I already had on hand.



~*~Materials~*~

Ready-made pillow
Fabric: I used bleached canvas dropcloth
(for a tutorial on how to bleach and soften drop cloth, go HERE)
Scissors
Measuring tape/ruler
Fabric Glue or a Hot Glue Gun


~*~BEFORE~*~


 First, I measured the pillow from corner-to-corner and added  3” to that measurement.  I then cut a 2” wide strip of bleached drop cloth (I like to pull a few rows of thread in the dropcloth to “fray” the edges a bit).  I centered my cloth strip on the pillow and, using a hot glue gun (or fabric glue), glued it to the pillow.  



You will have some overlap at each end that looks like this.....

...I then simply cut the overlap at right angles to match the corner of the pillow and glued it down... 


Repeat the above steps to adhere a second strip of dropcloth to form a “criss cross” on your pillow.... 


Next, I measured the length of my pillow and cut a 3” wide strip of cloth to that exact measurement. Because my pillow has fringe on these ends, I needed my strip to end where the fringe begins. If your pillow does not have an existing trim, then you will need to add a few inches to your measured length to overlap on the back of the pillow. Again, center your strip on the pillow and glue from end-to-end....



Measure the width of your pillow and add a few inches to this measurement to, again, overlap it on the back of the pillow....(I used a 3” wide strip)....


When I was finished, my pillow looked like this...but I thought it needed something “more”.


 These are the sheers that hang in my sunroom. They were too long so I had to cut a good  12” off of them before hemming them. 


I used the original hem of the curtain and cut a strip long enough to cover the width of my pillow and... 

... used the original "side" hem of the curtain to cut a strip long enough to cover the length of my pillow. 

I glued them on as I did the dropcloth ....   



 VOILA!





Why not plug in your gluegun, grab an old pillow and give it “a little bit of some English?” 
It’ll be the bees knees mates.  


7 comments:

  1. Of Course You Did!! Darling....where is that ivory pillow I just threw in the closet?

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  2. This is such a great idea Michelle! I LOVE that you did it in white and ivory. it turned out beautifully! Everything you do does : ) !!!! I hope things are great with you. I loved that you too are making the best of our winters. I think it really is the key to happiness...this loving every season whether it be the earths or our own in life.
    sending hugs...

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  3. I love it so much more now, beautiful!

    Gigi @ Old World Patina

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  4. this is just a great and simple idea..Easy do make...i Love it..

    Tanja
    shabbychicandi.blogspot.com

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  5. Oh please tell me that you'll have some similar pillows (as well as some adorable personalized mouse pads) in your Etsy shop soon?!! Love, love these projects!!

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  6. Oh my!!
    I could have done this method yet when they hit blog land with popularity I so wanted one and drug out my sewing machine and went to town making one that's more like a pillow case rather then a pillow form. But your creative idea is genius, and so much easier, why did I not think of this?
    Love your tone on tone fabric choices, mine was in grey and white linens and can be seen in older postings.
    Leave it up to you to find such a great short cut :)

    See you soon miss creative here!

    Xoxo
    Dore

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  7. Michelle-- it's beautiful!! Omgosh-- who would have thought-- I love the all white-- it's perfection:)
    Love
    Vicki

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Taking the time to share your thoughts...your words...and your inspiration fills my soul....Merci.
~*~Michelle~*~