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...

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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DIY Air Dry Clay Sculptural Fish Art

I had purchased a package of air dry clay years ago, filled up a Pinterest board with clay and pottery ideas, but couldn't actually commit to a project until I fell in love with this stunning ceramic artwork and was (finally) inspired to make my own clay fish art.

My DIY clay art pales in comparison to the gorgeous ceramic piece that inspired me to unearth my clay, but I don't care because I just really enjoyed the peaceful process of making these clay fish!

Supplies:

(I'm still on my craft-with-supplies-I-have kick and I happened to have everything on hand to make this air dry clay craft project).

• Air dry clay
• Rolling pin
• Cutting board
• Shimmering acrylic paint (I used Artist's Loft Metallic Cobalt Blue)
• Small plastic container with water
• Small paint brush
• Fish shaped cookie cutter
• Fine grit sandpaper
• Toothpick
• Paper towels
• Textured wallpaper sample or scrapbook paper
• Cardboard
• Epoxy
• Picture frame (no glass)

The first step was to cut out my school of clay fish.  My air dry clay had hardened into one solid brick over the years, so I tried my best to stab at it with a knife to make some punctures, then I poured a 1/2 cup of water on it and let it sit in a sealed bag.  Like magic, my clay became workable again, so I kneaded and rolled it into a cutting board (like cookie dough) and started cutting out fish shapes with my cookie cutter.

I dripped a finger in water and ran it along the edges to smooth out the obvious cut edge of each fish.

I used a toothpick (food skewer works too) to poke a little eye, then I shaped my fish to curve different ways - some are flat, some curve left, others curve right.

I set my fish aside on my cutting board to air dry, per instructions.  When the clay was dry, I gently sanded any rough edges with a fine grit sandpaper and then gave them a glimmering coat of paint.  I just took some teal paint with shimmer and watered it down - adding a few drops of paint to a tablespoon or so of water.  I lightly brushed the paint on, trying to keep my application loose and messy.  I let the fish dry, flipped them over, and painted the other sides too.  I ended up doing two light layers of paint, but actually preferred just one coat.

Here's where I made a little mistake: I wanted a glossy top coat, so I tried using some leftover varnish I had, but it made the paint crackle a little.  For this project, it helped my fish look more fishy, with texture that resembles scales, but for any other kind of clay project this is a word to the wise: don't cheap out on craft supplies and try to substitute something else.

I happened to have a textural, beachy wallpaper sample on hand, but there are so many gorgeous scrapbook papers that would work too.  I glued the wallpaper to a cardboard backing for the rigidity and then started gluing on my fish.  I dry fit everything to form my "school" and then, using my 5-minute epoxy, starting attaching my fish - some to the paper, some to each other.




I let everything dry for a couple of hours - just in case! - and then checked to make sure I had glued all of the fish.  I had missed one!  But luckily I caught it and glued it down before popping everything into a simple white IKEA frame I had on hand.  I used this same epoxy for my DIY agate slice art and, almost five years later (wait, what?) it's still holding strong.

I love how this DIY clay fish art turned out - it shimmers when the sunlight hits it, and it has such a fun, modern coastal look.  This would be such an easy project to get kiddos involved with too.

The only trouble is, the best light for photographs is also the best spot for watching the lake, so I had various puppies blocking the light, making it difficult to capture how well these fishies shimmer:

P.S. Even though this clay fish project turned out cute, and I'm so happy I finally found the motivation to work with my air dry clay, I still think the original ceramic art by KaroArt is much, much, much (!) better.  If you have a chance, check out the Etsy shop of this talented ceramic artist from Dublin, Ireland.  Karo also makes gorgeous ceramic bowls, dreamy storm cloud ceramic mugs, and heart-shaped wall art.

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