diy: Thanksgiving pillows

I know it's a little late to be decorating for Thanksgiving but...

I came across one lonely old pottery barn drape in the garage and I suddenly HAD to make a couple of pillows out of the soft fabric. 

These were definitely influenced by the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, but they're pretty understated so they could stay out all year.

Now that I know how simple these are to throw together, I think I'll make a few for Christmas too!

Here's what you need to make them:

Fabric (I used that soft old drape)
scissors
Iron on paper (I used this kind)
An inkjet printer
A sewing machine or some iron on seam tape

Here's what you do:

Step 1:
Create your "pillow art".
I downloaded a couple of free fonts and just typed up my phrases in Word.  I wanted them larger than the largest possible font size, so I printed them out and enlarged them on my printer.

Step 2:
Print your art on iron on paper.  If you're using words or phrases make sure you flip the image so it doesn't turn out backward. (I was able to just google my printer "Canon MG6220 + reverse image" and quickly figure out how to flip the image).

Step 3:
Cut fabric to size.  I had two 18" pillow forms.  My pillows were pretty floppy so I made the cases on the smaller side so they would fit snugly.  I made envelope style pillow covers  because I'm a total amateur on the sewing machine and I definitely didn't want to deal with a zipper.
For each 18" cover I cut one 19" square (front) and two rectangles 19" x 12" (back).

Step 4:
Iron your image onto the square piece of fabric.  Follow the directions on your iron on paper.  My paper said not to use an ironing board so I just used a wooden bench and it worked great.

Step 5:
Sew the pieces together (or iron if you're not sewing).  Since I used a drape with finished edges, I was able to cut my back pieces so that they already had a hem.  Usually my first step would be to hem one of the longer edges on both back pieces.

Lay the pillow out so it's inside out (your image should be on the inside).  Put a few pins in it to keep it in place.  Sew it up!  I left a about 1/2" from the edge.

Step 6:
Turn it right side out and stuff your pillow into the case.  New pillows!

"Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving"

I'll be making more Christmas pillows soon!