felt Christmas tree throw pillow
For instance, this Christmas tree pillow (on left) is made from felt circles. An exceedingly clever idea and not terribly difficult to make. In this case, why should I spend the $27 (plus tax) for this item when I know I can make it for less?
So I didn't buy it. :-)
I had a pillow insert on hand, which would have been the major expense of this project. I did need to buy the felt, but the red felt was the only big piece; all the others were just felt squares. I did economize by purchasing polyester felt rather than wool felt. I was utterly astonished at just how *expensive* wool felt is!! My goodness!
Once I had the pillow pattern traced, I drew a big triangular shape for the tree in chalk on the red felt background. Starting at the bottom and working up, I simply tacked the circles of green and yellow felt in the middle of the circle to the background. I packed them pretty tightly, as I couldn't exactly know how loosely or tightly sewn the Crate-n-Barrel pillow was done.
I decided to intersperse some yellow circles amongst the green .. just for a spot of color. I also changed out the dove on top for a Christmas star.
What I didn't do .. and I really have no idea why I didn't because I normally do ... is I didn't put any piping/cording around the perimeter to define the edge. My finished pillow really reinforced the fact that non-piped edges simply become rounded and the resultant pillow is less distinct. Ah well ... lesson learned.
When I put away the Christmas decorations this year (2010), I forgot about this pillow. I discovered it on the sofa after all the boxes had already been packed and stored. I wasn't about to figure out where to shoehorn the pillow in the Christmas boxes .. so I left it out.
Heh .. and I did the *same* thing for Christmas 2011. That makes 2 years that this pillow has been out in the General Pillow Population on the couch. I must say that I'm impressed by the durability of those circles! They haven't flattened appreciably and the pillow still looks very respectable. :-)