My daughters and I recently made a Flour Sack Pillow that we worked on together. It was a wedding gift for some friends, and my daughters were their flower girls. Here is a picture I couldn't resist putting in...
My youngest liked the flour sack idea, my oldest liked the monogrammed burlap pillow that we've done before here. So we agreed to do a two-sided pillow, one side made by each girl with their own designs. Here's our supply list:
- 1 yard of burlap
- 1 yard of flour sack material (you can buy flour sack dish towels at Walmart)
- Pillow insert
- iron-on transfer paper
- scissors, an iron, a sewing machine
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| My $10 Ross pillow - keeping the cover for myself and using the insert for this project. |
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| Using the pillow case as a template for my pattern. |
Step 2. Create your design. After we looked online and found the styles we liked. I put together a design in Word, using the couple's wedding date, location and initials. Once each design was approved by my daughters, I inverted the images and printed it on iron-on transfer paper.
I printed the circle border (which seemed a common design on flour sacks) as two semi-circles and fit them on one sheet.
Once we printed them out, I carefully cut out the design, leaving 1/8" border of white as I cut. I didn't cut out each letter individually, but rather cut them in "groups" keeping each line of text connected. I kept a small strip in between each letter - this helped me keep them lined up and spaced evenly. I just made sure to keep it as small and subtle as possible, so the shiny finish isn't noticeable.
Step 3. Iron transfer onto pillow. I placed a small towel inside the pillow case, so the transfers wouldn't bleed through to the opposing side. Then I carefully measured and centered the design face-down on the pillow, ironed, let cool, and repeated on the other side.
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| Burlap side with monogrammed "D" carefully centered, ironed and cooled. |
Once completely cooled, carefully peel off the transfer's paper backing. If there are any touch-ups necessary, place the backing over the design again and iron the spots that need it.
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| Flour sack design - peeling the paper backing off carefully. |
Step 4. Insert pillow into case and sew remaining side. I ironed the remaining side's seam one more time to make sure I had a neat clean line to hand stitch.
Once it's sewed up, you're done! And you have yourself a one-of-a-kind pillow that looks great in any home. Here's the finished product, with my daughters showing each of their designs.
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| Finished Flour Sack Pillow |
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| Finished Burlap Monogrammed Pillow |
I liked doing the half flour sack / half burlap pillow because it matched their bridal shower's theme (burlap & white). For more details on that lovely outdoor bridal shower - click here. What a fun shower to throw and what a fun wedding gift to make with my kids!
