No Zipper Envelope Pillow Tutorial

I'm making progress on pillows to re-color my living room!  I've only gotten two done and I have about 20 more to go.  Haha, not quite 20....but seriously I have a lot of throw pillows on our couches.

Ok, here's the rundown of what it cost me:

• paisley-ish fabric: FREE (my mom bought a whole bolt of it and gave me some)

• geometric fabric:  half a yard for about $4 at Hancock

• feather pillows:  These are pillows I already owned so technically they were free.  I originally got them from Ross.  They had hideous covers on them and were on clearance for about $3.

Here's a quick how-to:

I made templates out of poster board after the first round of pillows I made for a day bed we used to have.  This saves a ton of time and eliminates measuring and worrying about keeping corners square every time.  The template shown is for an 18x18 inch pillow cover.

1.  The big square is 18x17, the one next to it is 13x18 and the third one is 10x18.  I simply trace them onto the fabric with a pen so I have a line to follow when I sew because I can't sew a straight line to save my life.

2.  After I've traced the template I cut them out and leave about a half inch or more of fabric past the line that I've drawn.

3.  The next step is to hem the panels that will be the flaps on the back of the pillow.  And yes, that is really my disgusting ironing board cover.  I fold the edges over twice then iron them so they stay down.

Then sew.

3.  After both panels are hemmed, attach the corners of one of the flaps to the front panel of the pillow with a pin.  Make sure the back side of the fabric is facing out.  Repeat with the other back flap.

4.  Pin the bigger flap to the front panel.  The bigger flap should be on the outside when the pillow is finished.

5.  Pin the smaller flap.

6.  Sew!  Follow the lines drawn on the fabric and re-enforce the corners by double-backing on them.  Make sure those pins are removed before the needle gets there.

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No Sew, Lined Drapery Panels

My curtains are done and hung!

Here's the rundown of what it cost me:
6 yds. of fabric, $7/yard:  $42
2 Wal-Mart sheets, $4/sheet:  $8
2 rolls of Heat n Bond, $2.50/roll:  $5
                                  Supplies: $57
                                               -$35 (cash from old curtains sold on Craigslist)
                                      Total:  $20

$10 for each fully lined, 104 inch, floor to molding panel!  

These certainly aren't the most inexpensive curtains ever made.  I'd guess that they're actually pretty expensive DIY curtains because of the cost of the fabric.  I could have spent less, but that fabric (which looks more blue in person) was so perfect it was worth it, especially since I was able to sell my old curtains.

Here's what I did:

1.  Trim the sheet so that there is about three inches less sheet on three sides.

The picture below is the top of the curtain.  I left more at the top to create a pocket for a curtain rod.

2.  With the adhesive side down and paper liner up, iron on the Heat n Bond so that half is on the liner and half is on the drapery fabric.  Do this on the left, right and bottom of the panel.  Then peel the paper liner back.

 3.  Beginning with the bottom of the panel,  fold the curtain fabric twice.  The rough edge should not show and the adhesive should be covered so that when it's ironed, it will bond the hem.  Repeat with the other two sides.

4.  (I didn't get a picture of this! Oops)  Fold the top of the panel twice to cover up the rough edge (like the picture above, except it shouldn't be touching the lining) and iron on the Heat n Bond so that half is on the folded over fabric and half is on the back of the curtain fabric.  Peel off the paper liner and fold the top of the panel down so there is about three inches between where the top of the curtain will be and the part that you just hemmed.  This should create a pocket for the curtain rod.  Iron the fabric so that the Heat n Bond adheres.

Sorry if that last step was confusing!  Here's a picture of what it should look like:

I'm so glad to have these curtains finished.  Step one of re-coloring my living room:  done and done! 

Just a little footnote...this stuff is the bomb.  I ended up using exactly one roll for each panel.

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