"Give thanks" pillow tutorial

The days in November are short and sweet, and I love to decorate our house for Thanksgiving. I decided to try my hand at making a Thanksgiving pillow using supplies I had on hand. Here's what I came up with:

Here's how it's made:

Materials

drop cloth

ruler, yardstick, or other straightedge

black Sharpie marker

sewing machine, Stitch Witchery fusible tape, or fabric glue

Procedure

• Wash your drop cloth in the washing machine and dry it in the dryer. I added some bleach to the wash. After being washed, the drop cloth fabric is much softer. Iron the drop cloth fabric you want to use for your pillow so you'll have a smooth surface to work with.

• Choose a pillow size (I measured a pillow insert I had on hand). Cut two squares of fabric two inches bigger than your pillow size. I wanted an 18" x 18" finished pillow, so I needed two 20" x 20" squares of fabric.

• Decide on placement of your words. This pillow has the wording on the bottom half of the front, so I started at the bottom and worked up. To make a pillow like mine, measure up three inches from the bottom of your fabric and three inches over from the right hand side. One inch on the bottom and one inch on the side will make up your seam allowance, so you're really measuring two inches in from the sides of the pillow. Using a straightedge, draw a line with a pencil. Then draw another guideline for the tops of your letters. Just like in elementary school, you'll make your letters between the top and bottom lines. My guidelines for "give thanks" are 1 3/4 inches apart.

• Using the Sharpie, write your letters. You can pencil them in first if you like, but I just took the Sharpie and went for it. Just write the letters to begin with, then go back and make them as full and fat as you like. I wanted the word "thanks" to end in the bottom right corner of the pillow, so I started with the letter s and worked backward, writing s-k-n-a-h-t. Note that the t, the h, and the k all extend above the pencil lines.

• Once you have your "thanks" looking pretty good, measure up a bit and draw guidelines for the word "give." I left 3/4" of blank space between the bottom guideline for "give" and the top of the tall letters in "thanks." Again, I worked backward, writing e-v-i-g, then going back and filling in the letters to make them big and bold.

• Measure up again from the top of "give" and draw smaller guidelines in pencil for "in everything." For these words, I drew 3/4" tall guidelines. This time, I wanted the "in" to land in a certain spot, so I started there and worked forward. I simply wrote these letters in a print designed to look like an old-fashioned typewriter print; I didn't fill them in to be any fatter.

Note: I simply free-handed all these letters, loosely basing the writing on Chancery script and Courier type. I'm sure you could simply create a Word document mixing different fonts and sizes and come up with a pattern that suits you.

See the pencil lines?

• Once you have all your letters printed, step back and take a look at the total composition. You might even want to snap a photo and look at it. You'll probably see a few places that need a little more filling in; that's easy to do with your Sharpie. Once you like the overall look, simply erase your pencil lines.

• Turn your pillow squares right sides together and pin in place. Stitch up the sides with a 1" seam allowance (or use Stitch Witchery or fabric glue). Why a 1" seam allowance? This is what I allow because I'm not a good seamstress. I have the one-inch line marked on my sewing machine with a line of tape. I simply place my fabric on the sewing machine and and keep the edge of the fabric along the edge of the tape. This way I end up with straight seams. I could never sew a straight seam without the tape to guide me. For best results, press open your seams as you go and trim the corners so that they'll be neat. Leave an opening in the bottom of your pillow cover for stuffing the pillow.

• When you're finished sewing, turn your pillowcase right side out and press. Then stuff your pillow, sew the opening closed (or use glue to close the opening, like I do).

• For a fuller tutorial on sewing a pillow cover, click here.

The finished product:

I'm using the pillow on my screened-in porch, where all is now ready for Thanksgiving!

Edited to add:  Later I lettered a Christmas message on the back of the pillow, so it does double duty!

I'm happy as a clam to have created a fun new accessory for $0 and just a little time! What do you think?

Linking to these wonderful parties:

Tutorials and Tips at Home Stories A to Z

Tutorial Tuesday at Hope Studios

Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

Open House at No Minimalist Here

Thanksgiving Projects at The CSI Project

Inspiration Friday, At the Picket Fence

Show and Share Day at Just a Girl

Frugal Friday at The Shabby Nest

Head to Head Showdown at I Can't Stop Crafting
Home for the Holidays at Uncommon
Throwback Thursday at Sweet Pea