#5- Sew/create decorative pillows

I'm sort of plain. I like wearing jeans and a t-shirt and wearing minimal make-up. Inside my home I like things to stay neat, but not overly done. I often think of those houses with a thousand knick-knacks as the first step into my life as a hoarder. However, I have discovered this means I am afraid of color and design. My house is painted tan, tan, brown, tan and very light green—did I mention there is a lot of tan in my house?

One thing I have always wanted to do is create my own decorations and personal touches and to teach myself how simple it is. My mother is a talented seamstress (she made me and my best friend's prom dresses in high school) and she is always offering to show me and I guess I just didn't appreciate it until now.

So here is my first goal—while it may be simple, I thought better to start simple. I have goals to learn to sew other things on THE list, but thought I should start with something simple first. So #5 on my wishing list it to learn how to sew and create decorative pillows.

So I collected my amazing mom and off we went to the fabric store. We spent about an hour there and my mom explained to me about different fabrics and double-checked all my choices were washable (something I would have never thought to check).

For my living room which is mainly black and tan with a few red accents we found this intricate red and tan pattern with red fabric for the back. My other throw pillows are just plain red so I am hoping these will add some spice.

For one of my guest bedrooms which is all brown, tan and baby blue we found this japanese-ish blue pattern which brown backing for the pillows.

And finally, for the master bedroom I picked out some simple creme fabric to make some giant over-stuffed throw pillows. Our sheet set is overly striped so I didn't want too big of a pattern that would overwhelm the brain.

We spent our Friday night cutting and pinning and getting all of the pieces ready for assembly. I must say, it was way more fun than I thought it would be. We chatted, pinned until our fingers bled (literally- I have the bloody patterns to prove it) and schemed about what creative things we could do.

However, in the end we succeeded. We created seven pillows (my mom also made one for her living) from concept to head rest in 24 hours. Guess what I discovered... sewing is not that hard. As long as you have confidence (and a really good teacher) it will be a success. Expect more sewing projects from me in the future and enjoy the finished product below.

My mom said something really insightful that I have been thinking about since we finished. I was complaining that one of my seams didn't look right and she said, "The beautiful thing about sewing is that there is nothing you can't undo. If something doesn't seem right just pull out the stitches and start over." Don't you wish life was like that sometimes... you could just magically pull out the stitches and put things back together more beautifully than they were originally. However, the catch is that my pillows are unique because of my amateur stitches and lumpy filling and I don't think I would want them any other way :)

So what's next you ask... I am hoping to re-make the best way to start you day... stay tuned.