Fancy pillows don’t have to have a fancy price tag. Make your pillows look fancy by spending your money on fancy trims or recycling old formal wear. The bridesmaids dress that you will never wear again or your old prom dress have yards of fancy fabric just waiting to be re-purposed. Dig through your old jewelry, your button box and even your linen closet for embellishments that will make your pillows look fancy. These ideas are easy to create and can be accomplished in a short amount of time.
Silk Scarf Wrapped Pillow:
Wrap an existing throw pillow with a silk scarf or sash the pillow with silk or satin fabric. Wrap the silk scarf around the girth of the pillow bringing the ends to the front. Wrap a rubber band around the silk scarf where the ends meet at the front of the pillow. The remaining portion of the silk scarf should be loose like a ponytail. Tuck one end of the scarf under the rubber band. Repeat for the other side. This will give you a rosette. If you’re scarf is really long, you may need to tuck the ends again. If you do not have a silk scarf, cut a length of silk or satin fabric and sew a long tube to resemble a scarf and repeat the steps for the rosette.
Formal Dress Pillow:
Make a fancy pillow using your old formals. Measure the size of your pillow or pillow form and cut two square pieces from your formal dress. Measure the outside dimensions of your square and multiply by two. Cut a piece of the formal dress fabric that measures 4 inches wide by the multiplied dimensions long. You may need to piece this strip. Fold the strip in half lengthwise with the wrong sides together and pin. Tie a knot in the end of crochet thread and place along the pinned edge of the strip. Sew a zig zag stitch along the pinned edge over the crochet thread. At the end, cut the thread and knot. Lay the ruffle on top and along the outside edge of one pillow square. Pin both ends in the middle of one side edge and pin the middle of the long strip on the opposite side of the square. Pull the crochet thread to gather the ruffle and pin the ruffle to fit around the sides of the square. Lay the other pillow square on top and pin. Sew around the pillow square leaving a large opening along one side to insert the pillow form into. Turn the pillow case right side out and insert the pillow. Hand sew the opening closed.
Silk Flower Pillow:
Match beautiful silk cottage roses with an existing pillow. Pop off the heads of the cottage roses from their stems and discard the stems. Apply craft glue to the back of a cottage rose and pin to the front center of the pillow. Repeat with more cottage roses surrounding the first until the entire front of the pillow has been covered. As the glue begins to dry, remove the pins so that they do not become stuck. Allow the glue to dry thoroughly.
Grandma’s Bead and Button Pillows:
Rummage through grandma’s old jewelry box and hand sew vintage beads randomly over the surface of a velvet pillow. If grandma did not have an old jewelry box, then rummage through her button box instead and hand sew antique buttons to the front of the pillow in a monogrammed initial shape.
