I’m linking up to Hookin’ Up with HoH at Allison’s House of Hepworths, to Saturday Night Special over at Donna’s Funky Junk Interiors, and to Sunday Showcase at Under the Table and Dreaming!  Be sure to visit these other wonderful blogs for a boatload of fabulous ideas!

I recently conjured up the idea for this pretty toss pillow, when I was looking for a way to use the embroidery on an old cotton pillowcase my great-grandmother had worked. (You can see how I’ve used a few more of her pillow cases here and here.)

The fabric of this pillowcase was damaged, but I wanted to preserve the embroidery. My idea was to create a sort of “flap” over a coordinating fabric for the front, with a plain panel on the back. I originally envisioned some lace all around the pillow, but by the time I got around to sewing this project I couldn’t find where I had stored the lace I had purchased. (Not surprisingly, I found it shortly after finishing the project!)

First, here’s the finished toss pillow:

And, here’s how I made it.

1. The size of the pillow is determined by the width of the pillow case. A 16-inch pillow form was a little bit too big, but I made it work by removing a little of the fiberfill.  I cut squares for the front and back fabric panels a little larger than 16 inches to allow for seams.

2. I cut the panel from the pillow case so that it would end up being about two-thirds the length of the front panel.

4. I pinned the pillow case to the front side of the front panel. I stitched these two pieces together along the lace edge of the pillowcase so I would not end up with a “pocket” on the front. I also tacked the other three sides of the pillowcase to the front panel with a quarter-inch seam using long basting stitches.

5. Next I pinned the assembled front panel to the plain back panel, right sides together. I stitched the two panels together with about a half-inch seam allowance on all sides, but left an opening at the bottom about eight inches long so I could insert the pillow form.

6. I turned the whole piece right-sides out. The edges of the opening naturally wanted to fold to the inside, and I pressed them down. Here’s the finished pillow before stuffing.

7. I stuffed the pillow using the 16-inch form I had purchased, but because my finished cover was a little under 16 inches, I had to remove a little of the stuffing to make it fit. Fortunately this was a zippered pillow form so I was able to shove that stuffing back in after I got the form inside the cover.

8. I pinned the folded edges of the opening together and whip-stitched them shut, then fluffed and squeezed the stuffing around til the pillow was nicely filled out.

Voila! A very sweet cottage-ready toss pillow full of vintagey goodness, with a little family history behind it!

Oh! And, just in case this isn’t enough ‘vintage” for you, below is what I’m using for a sewing machine these days: my grandmother Helen’s Singer Featherweight 221-1! I love the machine for its indestructibility, its simplicity, and of course its vintage design. This one is from the late 40′s, I think.

More soon!