Autumn leaf pillow tutorial

It's September, and although the temperature here in North Carolina is far from autumnal, I'm ready to start decorating for fall.

Last week I made a Pottery Barn knock-off pillow out of a drop cloth and some old buttons. I decided that I wanted to use that pillow on the loveseat on my covered front porch. I think it looks nice and cozy for fall.

I wanted pillows for the arm chairs, as well, so I picked up a couple of 99 cent pillows at the Salvation Army. Aren't they awful? But they're really soft, fluffy down pillows, so who cares what the casing looks like?

Mindful of Beth's bedbug troubles, I brought them home and immediately washed them in HOT water in the washing machine and then dried them on high heat in the dryer.

These pillows were 18" x 18", so for each one I cut a piece of drop cloth 20" x 38". That's a piece long enough to double over and sew each cut side with 1" seams. I'm not a good seamstress, so I usually sew 1" seams. That gives me lots of room for error.  Click here for easy step-by-step instructions for making a pillow!

After my pillow cases were stitched up, I cut fall leaf shapes out of crafter's felt. I couldn't find felt in colors that I was thrilled with, so I just bought one orange square and one tan square and dabbed on some stain until I was satisfied with the burnished colors. I googled "fall leaf patterns" and found lots of images. I just referred to a couple of those and free-handed two different leaves onto the felt with a Sharpie. I was fussing with trying to make both sides of the leaves look alike when it occurred to me that I could fold the felt in half and cut out one half of the leaf, just like I learned to cut hearts for Valentine's Day.

Worked like a charm.

When I was satisfied with my leaf shapes, I used Stitch Witchery to adhere the leaves to the pillow covers.

Once they were in place, I used a Sharpie to draw on some defining lines. It would be fun to embroider on these lines, as well, but for now Sharpie will do. Here's the finished product:

Now that they're done, I'm wishing that I had made my leaf shapes a little bigger. Ah, well. Anyway, I already had the drop cloth, so all I spent for these new pillows was $1.98 for the pillow forms and 40 cents for the felt squares. For a total of $2.38, I'm really happy with these!

Now if it'll just cool off around here, I could sit out there and sip a cup of coffee. I sure wish you could join me!

I'm linking up to these fun parties:

Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Chic Cottage

Frugal Friday at The Shabby Nest

Feature Yourself Friday at Fingerprints on the Fridge

Make it For Monday at Cottage Instincts

Best DIY Projects of September at Beneath My Heart

Fall Inspiration Link-Up at Southern Hospitality