Pretty Batik Pillows

I have recently been making more pillows and pillow covers to put on my Etsy Shop.  Since I mainly make accent pillows, I really like to use fabric that will stand out and add color to a room.  I really love the wonderful colors and designs of batik fabrics.  I also like that these fabrics are hand-dyed and a lot of time goes into making them unique.

The following fabrics caught my eye:

Both of these 2-piece pillow cover sets are for 16"x16" throw pillows and are for sale on my Etsy Shop.

Finished Duvet!

After I finally found a place to stretch out the duvet in order to pin it (my parents' dining room), the process started moving along quickly. 

When I finished sewing the duvet, I realized that one of the issues I was concerned about had to be dealt with.  I needed to attach the back flap to the front in some way.  Some options were buttons, a zipper, or ties.  After some deliberation, I decided to make ties with the same black patterned fabric I used on the duvet.  (I thought this would blend in better.)  I remembered reading about a creative idea for ties in my friend Megan's blog, Textile Love.  Since Megan is such an experienced sewer, I contacted her to get the exact details on how to make them. 

I attached them to the back flap and the top about every 12 inches.  They are attached in such a way that they are not very noticeable from the front.

The pillow shams were next.  (At this point, I was just ready to be done!)  I made them out of a coordinating gray fabric and finished them with french seams for durability.  Here is a picture of all the pillows:

When I made the duvet, I had always planned on the patchwork stripes running horizontally.  But, after I put it on the bed, I decided I might like how it looks better with the stripes running vertically.  (The good thing about this queen-sized duvet is that it is square, so you can flip it either way.)  I can't decide.  What do you think?

Well, I am glad to be done!  I hope my sister likes it!

Throw Pillows for the Duvet

I ran into a road block while finishing off the duvet cover.  The queen-sized duvet cover was so large, I didn't have a good place to spread it out and pin on the back cover.  While I attempted to lay it out on the floor in my hall, I didn't have enough room to stretch out the wrinkles.  So, I decided to work on another part of the project before finding a place to pin the duvet. 

I started on the matching pillowcases.  While my sister already decided on a gray fabric for the standard pillow shams, it took me awhile to come up with a layout I liked for the throw pillows.  I wanted to include elements that were in the duvet itself.  I put the floral fabric in a centered rectangle with thin pink and green borders.  However, I couldn't decide what fabric to use for the majority of the throw pillow.  I was trying to decide between the blue fabric and the black polka-dot fabric.



I finally decided to use a combination.  The main fabric was the black polka-dot fabric, with small side borders of blue fabric.  (Another factor in my decision, was that I had more polka-dot fabric.)   I used a white fabric for the envelope back cover.

Throughout this project, I have learned a lot about ways to conserve fabric.  For example, I only had thin strips of the floral fabric.  I had to sew two small strips together to form the center rectangle.  Although I couldn't match the patterns together exactly, I tried to make it as "seamless" as I could.  My supply of pink and green fabric was also fairly low, so I could only do thin borders with them.