Modern DIY Doily Throw Pillow

Do you have a pile of inherited doilies, with no idea what to do with them?  Even if doilies aren't your jam, you might like this project: a modern, simple, DIY doily throw pillow.  Between the pale aqua linen (yum) and the unusually cool doily - which I swear looks like an eye! - this easy to make decorative pillow might have turned me into a doily covert!

The idea for this doily project actually started germinating when I was rummaging around in my Mummu's yard sale pile and discovered an entire box of vintage crocheted doilies.  Even though I don't love doilies, I couldn't help but marvel at how intricate and delicate some of them were.

You might remember that I dyed some of these doilies different shades of teal for a wintry table runner?  After I was done with that project, I couldn't think of another use so I returned the box of doilies, but couldn't stop thinking about this eye-shaped one - so I asked for it back.  I had NO idea what to do with it, because I'm not really a doily person.  I loved how my tablescape turned out, and I do have a sentimental Hungarian embroidery framed in the hallway, but other than those two anomalies, my aesthetic tends a little more to the mid-century/modern.

I decided to hoard this doily anyway, and then magic happened.

When I bought the white linen fabric for my DIY closet curtain, I also purchased the same linen fabric in an icy, pale, shimmery blue hue because I couldn't resist.  It was also on sale for $3/meter.  $3 for LINEN - that's ridiculous.  I had thrown it on the dining room table and then happened to empty some other crafting supplies from a random bin of stuff to sort out and the eye doily tumbled out onto the blue linen.  All of a sudden, seeing the doily on the pale linen, I realized that the combo would make a gorgeous throw pillow!

Yup, I was right!  I hate when I'm rewarded for hoarding... 

If you love the look too, here's how to make a modern DIY doily pillow.  Read on for my tips and tricks for adhering the doily for a smooth look.

Supplies:

• Heat Bond iron on adhesive
• Vintage crocheted doily
• Ice blue linen fabric
• Sewing machine + thread
• Iron + ironing board
• Pencil
• Zipper 
• Scissors (I am smitten with these)
• Self healing cutting mat and olfa rotary cutter (optional) 

Sewing this pillow was the easy part.  The only trick was deciding how to properly affix the doily...

I thought about using the same fabric glue I used for my DIY linen tea towel with gold reindeer trim, but I dreaded the idea of dabbing glue on every inch of the finely crocheted doily.

My Mom offered to try sewing it on, but we were both worried it would slide around and end up wonky or stretched out.  Luckily, while rummaging around in the Fish Room, we found some Heat Bond iron-on adhesive (rewarded for hoarding again).

This is how heat bond iron-on adhesive works: you apply it (backing up) to the wrong side of whatever you want to adhere to another fabric.  You gently iron (no steam), remove the backing, place the newly created applique onto the fabric (adhesive side down) and iron again.  The adhesive bonds the two fabrics.  It dries clear and the only sign is if you hold the pillow to the light, it's a bit shinier where the adhesive is.  It's really, really not noticeable. 

I experimented a bit with some lace and a scrap of linen to get the temperature right and during those experiments, I pulled a piece of the adhesive apart for you to see what it looks like:

Satisfied with our experiments, we traced the doily onto a sheet of Heat Bond iron on adhesive, cut out the rough doily shape, and proceeded ironing it - per the instructions I outlined above:

Although this heat bond adhesive is strong enough to use alone, we were worried because we've had this stuff for a long time - would the glue weaken?  Just in case the bond relaxed over time, we decided to sew the doily down in a few inconspicuous places.  With the adhesive helping to keep it in place, we no longer had to worry about the doily sliding or bunching while we sewed, so we did a few loops around the doily, tracing the design in the middle and along the edge.

With the doily firmly adhered and sewn in place, we sewed the linen into a cute throw pillow with a flapped zipper.  Check out our tutorial for how to sew a throw pillow with a zipper - there are tons of detailed photos and step-by-step instructions (click here if you missed that post).  You could always just add a doily to a pre-made pillow, but you'd have to put all of your faith into the adhesive. 

Here's what the finished doily pillow looks like!

Clearly I need to get that box of doilies back and make one for every room...

Good-Bye Charlie, Hello Camaro

I have been keeping secrets.  SO many juicy secrets.  I'm in the mood to spill some beans so today I'm sharing a fun secret - plus it comes with the bonus of some embarrassing photos of me...

Here's the story:

Some of you are on a first name basis with Charlie, the 1992 lime green Dodge Colt I've been dragging around the province for the last 10 years.  He was my (beloved) first car.

When Hubby and I moved from our home town in 2007, we thought we'd both need a car to commute to work and school, so we bought a new Nissan Versa and also drove Charlie with us.  We realized very quickly that we only needed one car and the Versa was the obvious choice because it was more reliable for driving 16 hours back home to see family.  But I couldn't bring myself to let Charlie go! 

Instead, I convinced Hubby that we should fix him up and rally race! 

We lined up racing insurance (a little prematurely, lol) and brought him to my grandparents' rural property a few hours away, having sized up their spacious garage as the perfect place to turn Charlie into a rally racer.  But we rarely did any work on him when we were visiting because we were plied with too much good food and sat comatose until our visits ended.  When we moved cities to our townhouse we moved him with us and paid to store him in a heated garage close to our house.  But we still never worked on him.

Racing plans always took a back seat to more reasonable plans, family obligations, financial constraints - boring adulting.  Eventually our rally racing dream faded and we opted for less expensive outdoor storage but I still couldn't say goodbye because there were too many happy memories associated with him!  In fact, Handy Hubby and I were dating when I decided to paint him lime green (in my future father-in-law's rural field).

Hubby (then Buildy Boyfriend) and I hit a rough patch and probably would have broken up - if my half painted car hadn't still been parked at his dad's!  As we logged long hours sanding, painting, re-sanding, re-painting, and commuting to work together in Hubby's ancient van, Hubby and I settled back into a happy relationship.  Fast forward many years and I've been with Hubby for half of my life (and 9 years of marriage).  I have Charlie to thank for at least some of that bliss.

Plus - rally racing!  It would surely happen someday, right?

For some bizarre reason, I couldn't let go.  Charlie was a little piece of my past and a little promise of an exciting, adventurous future.

When we moved to the lakehouse we rented a dolly for a couple hundred bucks and hauled him behind our moving truck to our new home, where he lived outside for a year until we made room in the garage.  We finally admitted to ourselves that we'd never turn him into a race car, so I decided to make a porch swing out of him instead.  Hubby said no.  He is on board with so many of my crazy ideas, but he drew the line there.  Fair enough - I am building a giant Komondor in the backyard.  There's only so much weirdness one man can take.

I decided that I was finally ready to let him go (Charlie, not Hubby!), so we pushed him back outside but no one would come take him away for scrap, so he lived outside another year.

This past summer, I actually, finally, really did say goodbye - because we bought a brand new car!
 

The bold, bright green was just a weird coincidence... 

We had driven to Winnipeg, Manitoba for the weekend and decided to test drive some cars.  Our only running vehicle - a truck - had been giving us some troubles and had spent a lot of time in the shop, which was really inconvenient for us because we live an hour from the city.  Tired of having to beg, borrow and steal vehicles, we casually started thinking about getting a second vehicle, but I wanted something fun.  Something to race ;)  (I really don't learn).  We were really just planning to kick some tires, but after we sat in the 2017 Chevy Camaro 1LE, with a performance track package, you could barely pry us out if it.  We ended up getting a ridiculously good deal and 0% financing.  The Universe wanted us to have this car. 

A little stunned at what we had bought on impulse, we towed our new car home and decided to make use of the car hauler and finally say goodbye to Charlie.



This is where the photos get a bit gnarly because I hadn't washed my hair, body, face or teeth when these photos were snapped.  The only comment I'll make on my clothing is to remind you that I live in the sticks and this is considered dressy out here.

I just wanted to get Charlie winched before I changed my mind, so that's why personal hygiene took a back seat!

Instead of selling him for scrap, I donated him to Teen Challenge Canada.  It made it easier to let go, knowing he might be able to do some good. 

I don't know how or why I became so irrational about letting Charlie go, but I feel good that I finally did it!  We're making new memories in our new car, and I'm feeling much more confident about my chances of rally racing.  Just read this review from Car and Driver and watch this Lightning Lap to get a sense of what this car can do!  (Plus I've been saving up money for a supercharger...)

Thanks to our new ride, Hubby and I spent so much time together this summer.  When we weren't on the water, we were going for scenic drives.  Driving around Lake Superior in the fall - for no reason and no errands, simply for the pure joy of driving - was so relaxing.  We stopped at beaches along the way and enjoyed the scenery more fully than any other fall since we moved back here.

Somehow this fast car really made us slow down.

 
I had wanted to share the news, partly to joke about my kitchen reno being parked in the garage, but I hesitated sharing photos of our new car online because it's so bold and easy to spot.  Then we met a few Camaro drivers who informed us that there's tons of bright green Camaros in our city (what?!?).  In fact, family members always text us saying they spotted us somewhere (parked outside a grocery store or house) - but it's NEVER us, so that made me feel more comfortable, knowing I still have a lot of anonymity even in such a loud car.

So if you see this car parked somewhere, it's probably not me... once the snow melts, I'll be bombing down back roads, looking for the perfect spot to picnic and thinking about Charlie.

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DIY Drawstring Lunch Bag | Turquoise Lunch Tote

I am on a roll with this crafting-using-supplies-I-have challenge (check out my DIY tassel key chain and air dry clay fish art).  I think I need a catchier name though - any suggestions?

Today's DIY sewing project: a drawstring lunch bag, tailor made for the massive salads I like to take to work.

Do you remember that cute turquoise patterned tote from Skylark + Owl?  They used a cloth bag to wrap their bedding for shipping and of course I was smitten with the print:

In theory, I love the idea of wrapping bed linens in a tote for shipping because it reduces shipping waste, but in reality I couldn't actually find a use for the tote bag because I have so many open tote bags and this one was a bit floppy and useless.  I originally wanted to sew the fabric into a cute throw pillow, but I actually needed a lunch bag big enough to fit the awkward container I use to bring my lunch to work, so my Mom and I whipped up a drawstring lunch bag instead!

Supplies:

• Fabric (a sturdier, upholstery weight)
• Sewing machine + thread
• Single fold bias tape (optional)
• Satin cord
• Large crimps (check local craft stores)
• Craft glue
• Large safety pin
• Needle nose pliers

How to Sew a Drawstring Lunch Bag:

Because I was hacking fabric already sewn into a tote, I could skip some steps - like sewing up the sides (yay)!  However, I also had to do a bit of seam ripping to remove the handles and open up the top seam, so it probably didn't save me any time in the long run.  But I love any opportunity to use my new teal seam ripper...

I wanted this lunch bag to offer up a nice big base so my salad containers can sit upright - and not on their side, threatening to leak -  so I sewed the corners straight across, eyeballing the size:

You can see my lunch bag taking shape, once I removed the handles, trimmed the top edge and sewed the bottom (I trimmed those "ears" after snapping this photo):

 

This fabric was too heavy to turn under twice for a neat hem (we worried my poor old sewing machine wouldn't be able to handle it), so we opted to sew on bias tape to hide the raw edge instead:

Then we opened the side seam a little to create a hole for the drawstring.  We sewed around the opening, to keep it neat and tidy:

 With the drawstring hole sewn, it was time to form the channel for the drawstring.

The drawstring closure is comprised of two continuous loops of silk cord, running parallel inside the channel, which is how we created the "handles" and avoided any raw, unraveling ends of cord or awkward knots.

To thread the drawstrings, my Mom had this handy tool, but you can also use a large safety pin to help guide the silk cord:

The last step doesn't have an in-progress photo because it was messy!  Like I mentioned above, because I didn't want dangling ends of cord or having to make knots to keep it from slipping back inside the channel, we created two continuous loops by gluing the ends together and sealing with a large metal crimp:

I used my favorite gel epoxy for this, but you can use your favorite fabric or craft glue.  Place the end of the cord in the crimp, apply glue, let dry to a slightly sticky (not goopy) state before closing the crimp with needle nosed pliers.  Keep the crimp as round and smooth as possible - with no sharp edges to catch the fabric.

Here's what it should look like:

Once the glue has dried completely, we worked the cords around so the sealed crimp is in the middle of the channel and it won't be seen when the drawstring bag is cinched closed.

And that's it!  I love that I could customize the size of this DIY drawstring lunch bag to fit the containers I use for lunch - plus it folds up into a tiny square on the weekends :)

I am really loving the challenge of making things using supplies I already have on hand, but if this is going to be a regular feature, I'm going to need some suggestions for a better name! 

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