Project #2 ~ French Market Pillows

Pillows and wall décor made of old French grain sacks and burlap have been really popular for awhile now on the home dec scene. I love the look and decided to make a couple of faux burlap pillows for my sofa.

I found about 2 yards of white linen at Goodwill for 99 cents. It was a little too 'white' for the look I wanted so I brewed up some tea and soaked it for a few minutes and it gave it just a slight aged tint. Perfect! After drying and pressing the fabric I took an 8x8 inch square and taped it down around all sides on a piece of 8 .5 x11 card stock. I headed to google for some ideas about what I wanted to say and came up with some French wording and graphics, a crown and some swirls. I made up my designs and distressed them a bit in MS Digital Image Pro. (Love that program!) First I printed them on paper to check alignment, etc. then sent the fabric through the printer on the cardstock and it printed beautifully.

 

Next I took my printed squares and pinned then stitched to my pillow pieces. I used a 'fagoting' stitch on my machine (which I had no idea what it was for!) in black and it looked really decorative. I left the edges of the squares unfinished and I think it gives them a shabby, vintage look.

The last step was to sew the pillow pieces together and stuff.  I stuffed lightly and left them looking a bit irregular, again going for the shabby look.   I really love the finished results and can't wait to try more printing on fabric!:

Thanks for looking and come back soon for my next project!