Creating a Little Lumbar Love for “Made it with what I Had day!”

So a couple of weeks ago Cindy over at Cottage Instincts, started this idea of a “Made It With What I Had” party. This is what I made, the rest of this post is all about how I got there!

When Cindy announced the party, I started thinking about all the projects I have been saying I was “going” to do – the bedskirt, the pillow shams, and the myriad of other projects. Some things have been put on hold due to “the situation” (If you don’t know, we live in a tiny one bedroom while we are waiting to sell our home that is states away. Get the full details here.)

So, while I would LOVE to do a lot of different projects, there isn’t a need for all of those right now. I started thinking about some of the things I could do in my apartment so that I could be more crafty. For starters, I just got this awesome sewing table. I am using one of the chairs from my cute teak dinette that my grandmother gave me as my work chair. (The dinette itself is being used as a desk for hubby’s computer gaming set up. I would love to show you a pic of it, but I am afraid it is covered will all manner of junk and Mt. Dew cans …. Sigh.)

The problem with this chair is that to sit at my sewing table, I have to sit on a pillow that is put into an L-shape – see picture below - so that my short self doesn’t feel swallowed up by the chair and so my back doesn’t ache after sitting in it for a while.

Obviously, this not a very aesthetic solution.

So I decided to make some lovely pillows for my little chair. (Actually – I decided to make some for both chairs for whenever we can use it as a dinette again and not as a makeshift desk).

I started looking through my collection of fabric and found these two different inverse pieces of the same pattern that my mom made shirts out of probably 20+ years ago. I do not know if she still has the shirts, but I can still remember her wearing them.

I laid it out on my large cardboard cutting board, which is a necessity if you plan on working on any large amounts of fabric.

I measured for my pillow (which is a nice lumbar pillow) and decided I would do the darker of the two patterns in the middle of the pillow with the lighter patterns on either side. It is a little hard to tell the two types apart in these pictures (one is cream with a beige pattern and one is beige with a cream pattern). I measured out enough fabric to have an inch and a half overlay so I could create a sham type pillow. What was my scientific method for obtaining said measurements? I simply pretended I was wrapping a present and made a notch in the fabric to denote the length I thought was necessary.

Then I pinned the fabric down so I could sew it together.

Once sewn, you NEED to make sure that you press down the seams. I know, I hate dragging out the ironing board as much as the rest of you, but it is a must. Especially if you have a darker and lighter fabric like I do here. If that is the case, always iron the seam towards the darker fabric, so it does not show through the lighter side.

Finally, I stitched all the outside edges down and then layered the fabric with about a 1.5 inch overlay (like a sham pillow). I then sewed up the edges and voila, we have pillow! Once I had one done – it was much more comfortable and cuter to sit in my chair and sew up the other!

I do have enough leftover fabric to do a table runner of some sort when I can repossess the dinette. I might even be able to make so some cute napkin holders or other such table accompaniments.

I was considering embroidering something onto the pillows. What are your thoughts on that? Originally, since I was making this for my sewing table I was considering the word “create” – is that too specific for when I am able to reclaim my table? 

P.S. Don’t forget to enter my giveaway! Entries are accepted until midnight on 11/19! 

I am of coursed linked up with Cindy @ Cottage Instincts for the Made it with What I Had Party.

I will also be linking up with Kimba @ A Soft Place to Land for DIY Day!