Well, I did it. I got my crafty pants on last night… I made pillows!

I had fully intended to make the embroidery hoop spheres I posted yesterday, but while wandering around Hobby Lobby during my lunch hour yesterday I came across some gorgeous duck canvas in a lovely blue fret pattern. It was on sale for 30% off, so I grabbed half a yard each of the fret and some white duck canvas.

NOTE: It may not be advisable to cut white fabric in the grass. You could end up with dirty fabric, grass stains, and fire ant bites. Trim at your own risk.

My goal was to make two long, skinny-ish pillows for the Adirondack chairs we have in our front yard. Besides that, I had no particular plan for them– I just started cutting out pieces. I ended up deciding on two panels of the fret with a stripe of the white canvas separating them. I then laid them out and cut one large piece of the white canvas to act as the back of the pillows.

Next, I pinned the middle white stripe to one side of the fret fabric, face sides in.

I sewed these together with a simple straight stitch and then ironed them flat (my arm doesn’t look that manly in real life).

I repeated the step, adding the other panel of fret and ironing the entire piece flat.

I pinned on the back and sewed it up, being careful to leave an opening to add the polyfill late (if you look close at the bottom of the pillow, you can see where I put double straight pins to remind me where to stop and start for the opening).

Here’s a tip I learned from my mom: when making pillows, be sure to cut corners. What she meant was that cutting the excess fabric off the corners of the pillows before turning it right side out (being careful not to cut the stitching itself) will make the corners nice and sharp.

Finally, I turned the pillows right side out, filled each with an entire bag of polyfill, sewed up the opening in the bottom, and plopped them outside on our Adirondacks. I think they look pretty great next to our new Talavera pottery and plants (thanks Mom and Dad!).

These are canvas, but they’re in no way waterproof. I’ve been toying with the idea of using my tennis shoe waterproofing spray on them (or even trying something like beeswax, seen here). We’ll see.

PS. The entire project cost $14 for two pillows.

What to you think? Have you tried waterproofing any of your outdoor softies?