Give Thanks & Burlap Tutorials

Here we are, two days away from the first day of Fall; and although I appreciate the arrival of each new season, I LOVE Autumn and Winter best!


Ahhhh... how I love Fall!
Fall is full of the cozy's:  sweaters, apples, candles, baked goods, teas & lattes, roaring fires, crock-pots, books... my list goes on.

Oh, and I love to decorate for Fall! However, I do make myself wait  until October. If I do not wait until then I am tired of it all by Thanksgiving- which is when I want to appreciate it the most.

So, while I wait.... I decided to try my hand at some projects!

I loved {and so was then inspired by} Dear Lillie's "give thanks" pillow.

Here is how I went about it:

Give Thanks Ruffle Pillow Cover -


First- I grabbed one of my tired pillows off the couch, removed the pillow from the cover, and then used that cover as my "pattern" for cutting.

I folded the fabric {some type of canvas I found in the utility fabrics at Joann's} so that I would cut two equal pieces. Then I gave myself about 1/2 inch all the way around for the sewing, and just started cutting.

Then I cut a third piece, equally wide but half as tall.

This third piece will work folded on the back side of the cover, to insert the pillow.

Next, I grabbed some beige, jeweled wedding-veiling. Yup, I just so happened to have that lying around. Going to make a ruffle out of this. 

Since the veiling is so sheer, I folded it in half to double-up my ruffle. Then  I started cutting what I guess to be about 5 inches wide. {guessed being the key word}

Now here is where I forgot to keep taking pictures... {so I'll just give you a sneak peak as I explain}

I was distracted by the fact that my normal method for sewing ruffles using a high tension on my machine was  not working! Disastrous story short... the easiest way to ruffle veiling is to bunch/scrunch it and then pin it. 

So I scrunched, and bunched, and pinned it to my cover fabric as I went. 

Then I sewed a straight stitch down the center, attaching the ruffle to the cover.

{Sneak Peak}

After attaching the ruffle, I knew where to write. First, I used a pencil to freehand script "give thanks"... I followed Dear Lillies and then added some little curly-q's of my own. Then I went over the pencil writing with a Sharpie Paint marker.

Next, I took the two back pieces for the cover and folded the bottom of each to just about 3 inches; and ironed that fold.

Then I pinned the larger back piece to the front cover piece. Pin: Right sides together or it's wrong. {Thanks, Sue} And after that, pinned the small back piece {overlapping the larger back piece} to the front cover. Again: Right sides together or it's wrong.

Now, I sewed all the way around, using a 5/8 seam. 

Yay! Done!

So I folded the cover right-side open and stuffed it with the pillow. Pretty cute I think. 

Fall Burlap Candle Wrap-
I was inspired by my sister- Laurin- who is preparing for a burlap Christmas, and recently started wrapping her candles in burlap.
I cut a strip of burlap {long and short enough to wrap my favorite BBW candle- Leaves} and then used my Sharpie paint marker to write out "fall" in the center of the strip. Then I wrapped the candle, using a piece of Scotch tape to temporarily secure the wrap while I tied some twine around it. I double wrapped the twine on top to make a little bow, and once on the bottom to secure the wrap on the candle.
Done. Love it.

What do you think?

What are you working on for the Fall???