I found some inspiration in an unexpected place a couple months back...
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I saw these amazing monogrammed pillow sitting on a gorg couch in Guilana and Bill Rancic's Chicago apartment.
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After researching for pictures for far too long I googled her name + monogram pillow and lo and behold a tweet popped up!! Yes, twitter is now an amazing resource!!
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Come to find out these pillows are Jonathan Adler.
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I love these pillows but I have an affinity to have something noone else will have,
therefore I made my own!!
*here is another woman's interpretation of Giuliana's pillows
{via..google images}
To make your own:
Open Microsoft Word on your computer,
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and begin looking through the fonts
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I used a similar sans serif font {to the Jonathan Adler pillows}
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{this font is Bakersville and I modified the curl of the "r" to something more squared.}
I mixed it up by using lower case.
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Did a few trial runs printing the one letter in a really large size;
I believe 300, 400 something of this size.
{maybe even 600 for a lower case letter}
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Cut the letter out and use it as your pattern to cut out your fabric
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the fabric for my letter is black linen fabric.
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the fabric of the pillow is duck cloth and can be purchased at hancocks, joanns, any place you can find fabric basically.
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Attach the letter with straight pins.
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Set your machine on one of 2 settings.
{this is where you will need to do some playing around with your machine. some machine's have an applique setting, once in this setting you want the stitch length to be really low, say .6 or .8 so the stitches are really tight; and the width to be really high, say 3.5 or 4, or if you do not have an applique setting you can use your machine's freehand buttonhole setting, again just check the length and width.}
**tip; this is my biggest piece of advice, when you go to attempt an applique USE GOOD THREAD. Don't buy this thread at a basic store like hancock's or joann's. Find your city's local sewing machine store or fine fabrics store and purchase high quality embroidery thread. This thread will be 100% cotton, a very heavy weight and will not be as fragile as a poly/cotton blend. This type of thread will run you $5.00ish a spool.
another reminder, if you are using 2 light weight fabrics buy some fabric stabilizer to help add weight to the back of the design.
Once you have determined which setting your machine will replicate the tightest stitches begin stitching away.
**another great tip, if your machine is not a "free motion" machine; meaning if it does not round curves on its own (often found to be a quilting or applique machine) you will need to stitch a little slower and stop quite often to slightly pivot and turn the fabric so you will have nice seamless stitches.
this is the first of my two pillows.
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I am actually glad you can see the minor imperfections and learn from my mistake.
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When working with linen and "appliquéing" linen please know the fabric will begin to unravel
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You will need some Dritz fray check, use a light amount of this along the edges of the letter BEFORE sewing {make sure to allow time for the solution to dry}
Then sew the letter on.
Tada, I must say I am pretty pleased with the outcome!!
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