So I don’t sew. I really have no excuse. Our mom is an incredible seamstress. She even made her own wedding dress! I know…seriously she was a very brave woman! Vanessa taught herself to sew, so she is now capable of making beautiful items for her home. Even my 11 year old is learning to sew! She requested a “real” sewing machine for Christmas two years ago and has been self teaching.
I on the other hand just can’t bring myself to sit at her machine and learn to use it. It’s really quite sad. It probably says a lot about my personality. What it says, I’m not quite sure…but it says something. Probably better off not knowing. In the meantime what’s a girl to do who likes pretty pillows and doesn’t want to pay an arm and a leg for them? Why jump on the “no sew” bandwagon! It’s amazing all of the things they have created to accommodate us “no sew” people and help us create the allusion that we really are seamstresses.
For example heat bonding tape…it’s a beautiful thing!
When I saw these adorable patriotic bandanas at Hobby Lobby I just new I could make something cute for the 4th of July with them. And, at $1.27 each it turned out to be a cheap and cute project…the best kinds!
Kate from Centsational Girl has a fabulous tutorial on creating “no sew” pillows, so I will just shared the steps that I took to make my pillows following her tutorial. But, for even more specific details visit her No Sew Cloth Napkin Pillow tutorial.
Gather up the following materials:
Material (in this case bandanas) to make your pillows with
Heat Bonding Tape
Scissors
Pillow forms:Ikea has wonderful pillow forms for very cheap!
A washcloth
A bowl of water
An iron set on cotton and steam
Heat Bonding Tape
Scissors
Pillow forms:Ikea has wonderful pillow forms for very cheap!
A washcloth
A bowl of water
An iron set on cotton and steam
First I cut the bandana that I wanted to be the back of the pillow in half. There was a crease down the middle from being folded so it make the perfect guide for cutting exactly in half. This will be for the opening for your pillow form.
Then you will want to rescue back your heat bonding tape from your dog…sigh. No words.
Next you will want to lay the fabric for the front side of your pillow pattern side up. Cut a strip of tape long enough for the entire length of the side of the pillow, leaving a little overhang. (I find this helps me make sure that I have a good adhesion all the way to the end of the seam)
Layer the bottom side fabric pattern down on top. Start your bonding on one of the sides of the pillow that is cut for the opening for the pillow form, slightly overlapping the edges. Overlap the hemmed edges of your bandana so that you have a nice finished edge for the exposed edges of the opening and place the cut sides to the outside.
Wet your washcloth in bowl of water and wring out. Lay your damp washcloth along on top of the back side fabric and press your iron firmly on top of washcloth. It will create quite a bit of steam and heat which is what bonds your fabric together well with the tape. Do not “iron” the fabric but just continue to press iron down the edge of the fabric holding in place for approximately 10 seconds each time. Cut off an access tape off of edge of seam.
Repeat along each edge of pillowcase making sure to overlap your cut edge as noted above for your pillow form opening. There will be additional fabric on one edge of the top fabric of your pillowcase because overlapping the bottom fabric makes it slightly smaller than the top fabric piece. Once all seams are adhered well and there are no gaps or openings, trim off any additional fabric.
Now carefully turn your pillowcase right out.
A good tip to make sure your corners come out nice and crisp, is to use a chopstick and gently push it into your corners to help push the excess fabric out. Once you have your pillowcase right side out, gently press out any creases in the fabric and insert your pillow form.
I just love the fabric. It says 4th of July without being too over the top. The words on the fabric are meaningful and they have a vintage feel to them.
Because of the opening in the back I can remove the pillow forms and fold the cases away to be used each year and reuse the pillow forms for other pillowcases.
Not too bad for $2.50!
Did you get a little sneak peek of my front porch? To see more of it be sure to join us next week for the Blogger Block Party where we will be sharing our outdoor spaces, porches, decks, projects, recipes and all things summer in our week long Summer Link Party! You can find out more details at our Blogger Block Party Post! Hope to see you all there!
We also have a winner for our Etsy Shop Giveaway from Maggie Jane’s Vintage! Congratulations to
Cathy B from Project Hope 7
Cathy please contact us through our contact form and we will send you the details! And a big thank you to Stacey from Maggie Jane’s Vintage for sponsoring our giveaway!
Thanks for meeting me At The Picket Fence today!
Cute pillow! Congrats to your little girl on learning to sew!
And congrats to your prizewinner!
What great looking pillows with no sew and a cheap price tag. What could be better. Love the porch styling sneak peek. Thanks for joining the party.
That is a great idea! thank you so much for the tutorial…I always wondered if I could do that…because I can’t sew either…so it is now nice to know that it can be done and that I can have an opening for the pillow as well!
your pillows look great on your porch.
The pillow looks great! Oooo a block party!?!? I will be there with my ‘party pants’ on 🙂 Can’t wait to link up!
I see lots of pillow covers in my future! What a fantastic way to change out the covers anytime you want to change your look!
What a cute fabric. I’m not a big sewer so this is wonderful 🙂
I have to laugh when I see y’all using that seam sealer-to me, that CAN sew, it just seems like so much more work than sitting down and running a few straight seams around a pillow piece. LOL…However, there are lots of things that I CAN’T do that others think is a piece of cake…like computer stuff…I agonize over hitting a wrong key and wondering where my life went….pooof….gone….gone for good….
Love that fabric-it is just the right amount of patriotic for me too! xo Diana
Great pillows Heather and I love the NO sew part because I can’t sew for my life!! Your porch looks so pretty I can’t wait to see it all next week!! Martina
Love the pillows, and I love being able to decorate for each holiday without spending a lot of money and this is one great idea!
Debbie
What a great idea to use the bandanas at Hobby Lobby for these. I like to switch out the pillows on my front porch, but I’ve never done patriotic ones… yet.
Super cute…
Pattie
congratulations Cathy B! so excited you will get some goodies from my ETSY shop!!
-Maggie Jane’s Vintage
Love the fabric and the pillows! Makes me want to make slipcovers for my pillows today!
What cute pillows! I have been sewing since I was 12 and I have a hard time with the heat bonding tape! For me it’s so much easier and faster to sew it! Hey, whatever works! Love your pillows!
These are adorable! I don’t sew either, but I wish I could. These I could definitely do. Thanks for the tutorial!
Your pillow is darling, Heather! And what a good idea to use bandannas to make pillows–sew or no-sew, this is a wonderful source for fun seasonal fabrics at a low price. Thanks for sharing your inspiration!
Lovely on your wonderful porch; I, too, getting ready to decorate for the 4th–we love that summer holiday for many reasons. Great post!
That is so cute! I love the no-sew idea too. 🙂 Your porch is so adorable as well, what a great place to sit and enjoy an afternoon. 🙂
xo
First love your no sew pillow tutorial idea. that looks like a great idea to put in soldiers care packages also if we can find similar napkins!
2nd, so happy to read about the win! thanks so much!!! Cant wait to get those items!
cathy b’
pbprojecthope at yahoo dot com
OK_ this was clever! I have never seen pillows from bandanas! That was thinking outside the box!!
xo Becca
🙂 I waaaaaaaant $1.27 patriotic bandanas! -_- LOVE it! <3
Love, love stitch witchery!…My mom used to keep a chopstick in her sewing box….she used them to make sharp corners too!!…brings back memories…so now I keep them in my sewing box too…Love your pillows!