Eccentric Pillow-making

Some year+ after purchasing what the salesperson told me was “the ugliest fabric [she] ever saw,” I figured out the magic recipe for getting things done, and that recipe is a late night peppermint mocha (thx, SB BOGO).

I bought the fabric in the dirt cheap clearance clear-out, and allow me to segue for a second while I comment on how I always find weird, odd fabrics in that sale section – patterns and textures that I’ve never seen in amongst even the most eccentric clothing-making or quilting fabrics. Where do they come from – some other region of the country? A second quality supplier looking to clear discount inventory? I don’t know, but it ain’t normal. And this fabric is nothing normal, but at the same time, it’s really wonderful.

As sure as I was that I’d never have found this fabric anywhere but the clearance rack, I was obsessed with it right from the get-go because it’s insanely soft like a cashmere sweater (rub-my-face-all-over-it soft), and patterned in a way reminiscent of something a little more exotic, moroccan meets ikat meets aztec or something that I’m not really sure how else to describe. At the time I bought it, we had just painted everything white and bought a fairly neutral gray couch, so adding color in accessories was one thing I had been focused on.

I always intended to make a few pillowcases out of it; I had guesstimated how much I’d need to cover 3 random 16″ square down inserts that had been squashed in a closet, and it turned out to be just enough.

I’ve made pillow cases in the past which have turned out pretty nicely, but I’m neither a seamstress, nor one to be able to teach you exactly how I whipped them together with correct sewing grammar. It involves a bit of trial +  error + the ability to maintain your end vision of the thing as you sew every detail. Also, make the squares a little smaller than you think you need to, and your pillows will automatically be poofy, since they’ll be squashed into their cases. No chopping necessary, thank goodness, because chopping is annoying. I admittedly don’t follow any formal pattern, but I’ve toyed around with adding zippers to pillows enough now that it usually doesn’t turn out too badly. These zippers, actually, were ones that I salvaged from three felt pillowcases I made a few years ago, but later “retired” and disassembled at some point after they got irreversibly matted with dog fur. Short version: No tutorial, but they’re basic pillowcases with recycled zips.

In a room that demands a serious amount of furnishing, a few extra pillows do seem to go a long way. Make anything ugly lately?