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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How I'm Hiding My Closet "Gym" | Simple DIY Curtain That Hides a Track

I have an obsession with squeezing as much square footage out of a house as possible.  In both the townhouse and our current lakehouse, I've crammed closets full of furniture, art - basically treating some closets as mini rooms.  Now I'm transitioning our office closet into the most ambitious purpose yet: a teeny, tiny home gym.

In case you missed it, the previous office closet makeover looked like this:

Here's the before:

I loved how we turned the office closet into a little nook and there was still lots of storage space, but eventually we realized that we didn't really need the storage space.  I had emptied those pink bins awhile ago and we spent December and January shredding files so we could ditch the filing cabinet altogether.  After a little de-cluttering, we removed the shelf, repaired the wall, rolled on a can of (slightly off-tint white) paint, and were left with this blank slate:



Now the office closet is home to our sleek new SpaceWalker treadmill and we'll be tackling some more projects, like adding a fan, installing and outlet, and storing our weights, etc.  Even though the new treadmill is so gorgeous, I still wanted the option to conceal this space so I enlisted my Mom to sew a DIY closet curtain.  When we moved here, I had to choose between the existing bi-fold closet doors and a smaller Ikea Expedit, or no closet doors and the bigger Expedit - I chose the latter, with no regrets!  A sliding door like the beachy glass one in our bedroom would be lovely but so awkward, because the bookcase is pretty close to the closet opening.  One day maybe we'll spring for a pocket door (or ditch the Expedit?), but we had leftover curtain track from the laundry room curtain system, and I found a gorgeous cream linen for only $3 per meter - so clearly the Universe was steering me in the direction of a closet curtain.

I wanted to do the closet curtain the same way my Mom and I did the laundry room curtains, because seeing the track never bothers me, but my Mom is so ambitious.  She's always thinking big and she has so many clever ideas.  With some work reflection, she came up with a simple DIY curtain that easily hides the curtain track and looks so seamless.  

Here's how to easily sew a curtain that hides a curtain track.

Supplies:

• White linen fabric
• Curtain track + hooks
• Sewing machine and thread
• Non-Woven Interfacing (ours was about 4" wide, doesn't need to be fusible)
• Shirring tape

The process was actually very straightforward.  First we washed and dried the fabric to settle any shrinkage and then gave it a quick iron.  The edges and bottom were hemmed as usual (folded over, ironed, sewn down) - pretty basic for a curtain.  The top is where we got creative.  To stiffen the top and keep it from drooping and exposing the clips and curtain track, we used non-woven interfacing, which was sewn right into the top seam to give it some stiffness.   

Next we sewed on some shirring tape, focusing the stitching on the bottom third so the top edge of it was loose. 

This is where we attached the clips from the curtain track and - voila! - a super simple curtain that hides the track!  We didn't do any ruching or shirring, we just evenly spaced the clips and so when the curtain is closed it has some soft folds.

Here's a peek at the back:

When the closet curtain is open, it looks like this:

I love this as a solution because it was fast and easy!  I know not everyone would opt for a closet curtain because it can look dangerously student-y, but living in this cottage on the lake I think I can get away with some relaxed design choices.  I wanted to share because if anyone liked the idea of a curtain track - but not how I opted to keep the track visible in the laundry room - then this is an easy alternative.

I am starting to lose track (haha) of how many curtains my sweet Mom has helped me make!  Thanks to my Mom, after that little patterned curtain misstep, both the bedroom and the office boast beautiful back tab tweed curtains (if you need a really detailed back tab curtain tutorial, here it is), the bathroom has a custom, floor-to-ceiling shower curtain, the laundry room is hidden behind some pretty polka dot drapes on a track - and don't forget the clever layered sheers she made for the townhouse and those sweet ruched curtains for the guestroom.  Speaking of guestrooms, she whipped up dreamy sheers for the bunkie too - oh, and the silk drapes and bedroom sheers in the townhouse as well. 

The only space that doesn't have curtains yet? 

Her place!  Oops.  I really owe her a sewing session soon...  

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