My 3 Monsters: Lucky Shamrock Pillow

2.25.2014

Lucky Shamrock Pillow

How embarrassing is it that I still had my Christmas pillows on the front porch bench until yesterday? I justify it to myself by saying that , technically, they were "winter" pillows not Christmas. And it IS only February, which is still winter in many places even though it feels like summer here. Whatever. Problem solved! I made a couple St. Patrick's Day-inspired pillows to match the wreath I shared yesterday on Craftaholics Anonymous.

I've had this gold polka dot burlap hanging around in my craft closet since I used it as a table topper back in November. It felt like the perfect nod to St. Patrick's Day, without being "slap you in the face" obvious. You know . . . leprechauns, gold coins at the end of the rainbow, right? I just sewed up a plain old square pillow cover with a zipper in the bottom. Nothing fancy, but I love the little bit of glitz it adds to the bench. {Here's a great tutorial if you are wondering how to make a zippered pillow cover.}

The second pillow is my favorite. I made an actual pillow instead of a pillow cover, but it would work either way.

Lucky Shamrock Pillow Cover Tutorial

1. To begin, cut a piece of fabric to fit the front of your pillow. Don't forget to add 1" to the length and the width for seam allowances.

2. Next, you're going to cut out three heart shapes from a green fabric of your choice. I went with another polka dot print. It seems to be a theme here -- I can't help that I'm always drawn to polka dot prints. Cut out a stem, too. Just eyeball it -- I didn't use a pattern.

3. Pin the pieces onto the pillow front fabric to form a shamrock. Stitch around the edges of each piece, about 1/8-inch from the edges. You can either machine stitch it or sew it by hand.

4. Once all the pieces are sewn on, wad the fabric up and rub it together to really rough up the edges of the green fabric and make them look frayed.

5. At this point I sewed the back of my pillow to the front. If you want to make a pillow that you will stuff, like I did, you will cut another piece of fabric the same size as the front piece. Line the two pieces up, right sides together, and sew around the outside edge using a 1/2-inch seam allowance. Leave a 4-5 inch opening on the bottom edge for stuffing. Turn the pillow cover right side out and fill it up with stuffing. Pin the opening closed and stitch it shut with a needle and thread.

If you want to make a pillow cover you can either do a zippered closure like we did on the burlap pillow or make an envelope closure like I did here.

6. For a fun finishing touch I sewed on these charms that I found in the jewelry section at Michael's. If you can't find the exact same charms, you could also drill little holes in the tops of some Scrabble tiles to spell out any word you like. {In fact, I might do that to add a "Y" so that it reads "lucky" instead of just luck.}

It's a fun, subtle way to tie my front porch all together. It's never ceases to amaze me what a big difference it makes to add pillows to my outdoor bench. The porch feels so much more home-y and welcoming. I just have to remember to bring them in when {if?} it rains.