First I went to my local Goodwill. There I bought a small basket and a small pillow for a total of $2. The basket was dusty and not so attractive, the pillow was some needlepoint teddy bear on a ship or something...I'm not so sure. I was only using the stuffing from the pillow, so I got one that was very firm.
Next I hit up the Wal Mart fabric department. I chose a simple fabric in a light orange and some ivory tulle. I chose a light orange, because my at the time fiance and I liked how it looked better layered with the ivory tulle. I suggest if you are buying fabric from different stores, or you are combining more than one fabric, try them out together. Surprises aren't always a good thing one something like this!
I bought a half a yard of both fabrics, because I got them from Wal Mart (not a specialty store) I only paid about $4 for all the fabric. While there, I picked up a spool of brown ribbon for about $1.
When at home, I unfolded the orange fabric and put the basket on it. I cut a square out of the fabric big enough to fold up around the base of the basket and still have a decent amount inside the basket. I used a hot glue gun to glue the fabric in place starting from inside the basket. I then cut a long rectangular piece of orange fabric to cover the handle with. I also used the glue gun to keep the fabric in place. I repeated these steps with the tulle. I then decorated with the brown ribbon.
I wasn't quite satisfied with the result. I felt that it needed a little something more. I decided flowers. I found some flowers that I liked and weren't too big or too bright or too ugly at A.C. Moore. The flower I chose had a good few blooms on a stem, so I only needed one. I got the flowers when the store was having a sale, they cost me about $3. I removed the blooms from the stem and placed them on the basket in a few different places before I decided on the arrangment I liked best. Now, the basket was done, onto the pillow.
This one, I was confident about. I cut two orange squares of the same size, slightly bigger than the size I wanted the finished pillow to be. I cut one square of tulle slightly larger than the size of one of the orange squares. I made small folds in the ivory and pinned it to one of the orange squares so that they seemed to be the same size. (I twisted the tulle from the middle to give it texture, this is why I need the extra material). I then layered the pieces of fabric with the tulle between the two orange pieces. (Remember, you sew the pillow inside out so that the stitching does not show). I pinned the pieces together so that it would be easier for me on my sewing machine to keep the layers together. If you do not have a sewing machine, you can always simply stitch it by hand. The pillow is only used for a short while and does not necessarily need to stand up to the tests of a washing machine or anything!!
Sew three sides of the pillow completely shut, on the last side leave about three or four inches unsewn (preferably in the middle of the side rather than close to a corner of the pillow). Turn the pillow right side out and stuff the new pillow with the stuffing from the thrift store pillow. Stuff it as firm or as soft as you would like.
For my finishing touch, I twisted the tulle from the center of the pillow. I then used a dab of hot glue to keep the twist in place. I did a sot of tufting on my pillow by sewing a small button on the back of the pillow, pulling the thread ALL the way through the pillow. I then used the brown ribbon on the pillow and the rest of the flowers I bought to decorate the pillow. This project took me about an hour and a half. I did it over 2 days, though.
Hope this helps someone out, or at least inspires someone to create something original for their special day!
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