Silhouette Pillows

Happy Friday everyone! It's only 13 days until Candy Day! Oops. I mean Halloween. But who are we kidding? It's all about the candy people. 13! Sppooooky! Have you figured out what you or your children are dressing up as? If you haven't yet, order something online today so that you still have a chance at free shipping (and good selection)! I have been busy the last few days working on my girl's costumes. Which if you were wondering will end up costing just (about) as much as store bought, so don't feel bad if you lack the desire or energy to make your own. Because honestly, I have never noticed a huge difference in price. And Pottery Barn Kids costumes are freaking adorable. If my girls were into Where The Wild Things Are, they would totally be doing that. Peanut's costume is 90% done and I just got started on Princess's. There is a lot of pieces to hers! Ergh! I got tired of working on them, so I took a break yesterday and made these cute Silhouette Pillows! I think it's going to be my last Halloween decoration DIY for this year. At least for the inside of the house. Look out for pictures of my decorated Halloween house on Monday!
There are 3 reasons that I LOVE these pillows.
1. You can use pillow inserts you already have. Just take the current covers off temporarily for Halloween, then replace after the Holiday.
2. This idea is great for Halloween, but imagine the possibilities.... Faces of your children for every day, Christmas silhouettes! Valentines! Black and white go with everything.
3. They are simple (albeit time consuming) and cheap. You maybe need a 1/4 yard of black fabric and maybe 1 yard for the white.

Ready for the DIY? Here we go.

You will need:
Black fabric (Mine was black flannel that I had leftover from an old project)
White fabric (I used just a simple white cotton. Note. If you have any stains on your pillows, they WILL show through the white, unless you double up. Just an FYI)
White thread
Black Thread
Sewing Machine
Basic sewing kit
Spray adhesive
Paper and pen for sketching
Chalk
2 white 14 inch zippers (one for each pillow)
A little from column A
A little from column B

How to:
1. Cut out 2 (2 for each pillow you plan to make) 18.5X18.5 inch pieces of white fabric. Set aside. Pick a silhouette that you want for your design. An owl, a cat, a spider, a ghost. Anything that screams Halloween! Google, "owl silhouette". Pick one that seems equal to your skill level. Draw it onto (or print if you have a printer) paper and cut it out to use as your stencil.   

2. Trace the owl onto the black fabric with the chalk.

 3. Cut out the owl and spray with the adhesive onto one of the 18.5X18.5 squares.

4. Sew with a needle and black thread all the way around the owl or spider, or whatever. It looks best hand sewn. But feel free to use the machine if you are in a hurry.

This is what the opposite side looks like.
5. Pin along the top and both sides (as always pretty sides together) of your white squares and sew with white thread (and the sewing machine). Then flip right side out.  

 6. Pin your zipper onto the open end of your square and sew on one side.

7. Repeat with the other side. Then sew (either by hand or machine) the ends of the zipper onto the pillow case to close it. Then believe it or not, you are done. And if you made it through one pillow, you may not want to make another. Don't worry, neither did I.

Here is a picture of one of my sad (went through the wash) old pillow covers. The BEFORE picture, if you will.

 And then the AFTER, with it's adorable Halloween flare!

 Here is the second one I endured to make. For your viewing pleasure.

A black cat of course! My cat may or may not have looked like an AT AT (you know, the giant elephant like machine things on the Ewok planet?) from Star Wars at first.....ok, maybe it still does a little.  But now it looks more like a cat. Anyway, black cats get a bad rap. Leave em alone ok! They're adorable! Its not their fault witches love them!

 I love my new Halloween pillows! They are the perfect finishing touch to my decorated house.

Yep! I wanna cozy up with that kitty!

Have a great weekend everybody! If you haven't already, get into the spirit of Halloween and decorate! See you on Monday!