Hello everyone! This is week 3 of the One Room Challenge. If you are finding me through the One Room Challenge, welcome to my blog where I share my passion for creating comforting homes by thrifting, sewing and a little diy-ing along the way! While I’m not averse to buying new. I love being able to stretch a budget AND get that “layered over time” look that comes from incorporating pieces that have had a previous life! You can follow my decorating journey on the HomeSpunStyle Instagram.
If you missed my previous posts on the college apartment makeover, you can find them here:
Week 1 – Before photos and design board
For the college apartment living room makeover, the bulk of my budget is going towards an area rug and slipcovers. This means that when it comes to accessorizing, I need to get really creative. No worries. Five Below has some great $5 boho style rugs that make cool pillow covers. They come in several colors and patterns.
For my project I need 2, 20 inch square pillows. I chose the mauve toned rug on the left which works well with the other elements I’m using in the room.
Incidentally, this rug is 3 x 5 feet so it could also be sewn up into 1 fabulous body pillow which would look great on a bed or sofa!
A NOTE ON HOME SEWING: The great thing about home sewing is its mostly just straight stitching on either rectangular or square pieces of fabric. Unlike sewing clothing that needs to fit perfectly, sewing for the home is quite forgiving! I am not a perfectionist when I am sewing for my own use. I always look for shortcuts. For example, if I’m upcycling a curtain panel into pillows, I will use an edge that is already finished. This saves me time and effort!
For this project, I cut out 2, 21 inch squares for the pillow fronts. The extra inch is for the 1/2 inch seams all the way around.
For the envelope style backs, which is the simplest way to make a removable cover, I used pieces of a canvas drop cloth left over from another project. I cut four 21 x 14 inch pieces (2 for each pillow).
The edges of the drop cloth were already finished so I didn’t have to hem them. If they had been raw edges. I would either fold them under twice and sew in place or use my serger to finish the edge.
I pinned one 21 x 14 piece to the pillow front (right sides together) and sewed a 1/2 inch seam all around the edges.
Then I pinned the other 21 x 14 piece in place so that it overlaps the first piece by about 7 inches and sewed around the edge. This creates a nice deep envelope back that won’t gape open after the pillow insert is put in.
To finish off the inside edges so they don’t fray, you can either use the zig zag stitch setting or use a serger if you have one.
I flipped each cover right side out and inserted a 20 inch feather pillow form. I use the Ikea Fjadrar pillow cushions which costs just $6 for a 20 inch size.
These look like high end kilim pillows that cost beaucoup bucks. Total cost for this project: $17 including the feather inserts!
I’ve also used the Five Below rugs for light upholstery. This vintage chair that I thrifted needed a new seat and the Five Below rug worked perfectly.
And, check out the cool lumbar size pillows that Kate of KateKeeSeeOC on Instagram made from Five Below rugs for her outdoor seating area. She uses fabric glue rather than sewing!
I’ll be back next Thursday with more progress on my College Apartment Living Room Makeover. Be sure to check out all of the other Guest Participants in the One Room Challenge to follow along with their progress. There are also 20 Featured Participants which you can follow too!
Debra
