So last week I revealed that the beautiful Once Upon a Tea Time blog was kind to feature me in its monthly magazine, curated. And, there is a glimpse shared there of my (until now!) hidden passion for sewing pillows. Pillows are easy sewing projects where you can quickly add a lot of color and pattern to a room. I’ve collected small remnants of pricey new fabrics, and vintage sari and kimono cloth over the years. Using these fabrics in pillows is a great way to show them off.
Here is a bejeweled bolster pillow shared in the magazine:
It’s a great example of how you can mix up craft supplies. Craft stores have supplies for so many hobbies all in one place, it would be a shame to make pillows with fabric only from the fabric section. Or to make jewelry with materials only from the jewelry-making section. Wouldn’t the two hobbies be even more fun if you mixed them up?
This large bolster pillow was sewn with a jacquard teal silk fabric and a teal ribbed knit. Large blingy brooches sold in the jewelry-making aisle are perfect for covering up the gathered fabric at the end of a bolster pillow, as you see above. And to take the bling a step further, I hung silver jhumka to dangle and jingle on the ends. (Jhumka are traditional style Indian earrings that sort of look like bells with small jingly pieces dangling from them.) Jewelry pieces like those shown above can easily be found at Michaels, Joann or Hobby Lobby.
Here’s another example of how to add some bling, this time with luxurious silk:
That’s a piece of remnant silk found at Britex in San Francisco years ago. The silk is so thick and rich feeling, I thought just simple tassels didn’t do it justice. So the tassels are dangling from golden chains with cabochon stones to add a little more luxury.
You are going to see the teal bolster pillow again … it will show up in a bigger project to be revealed in March!