Burlap Pillows

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Daniela sent me a picture of Burlap pillows and told me she wanted to make them all and asked if anybody wanted to have a sew day. I did but it took a lot of planning for us to finally get together to sew them.

 

Today was the day, and I learned a lot about burlap, including the fact that it's a stupid name.

When you get the Burlap, you have to wash it a couple of times to get the smell. Then it will look like this: a big pile of wrinkled nastiness. After washing it twice with bleach it still smelled like a funky donkey. I ironed it with febreeze and it was ok, but burlap just smells weird.

 

Before we go any further, please feast your eyes on the awesomeness of this Atelier! I want it badly, including the little Bambie needle cushion.
Ok, back to the pillows.

We ironed and serged everything because Burlap likes to lose threads, but it also loses fuzz like crazy and you will have it everywhere, especially up your nose.

We tried to use the ruffle foot for the machine but burlap is just too stiff. Daniela ruffled it by hand after we had sewn it to the pillow

I cheated on my boyfriend Paleo today with these, because I wanted to and they were delicious and I don't regret it all.

 

This is how the first pillow turned out; I think it's cute and it looks like the picture 

This was the second pillow that we made. I think you can see that we didn't figure enough seam allowance because it is already pulling the sides in like crazy. After we were done it looked like a hot mess. However, after I left, Dani worked with it and it was better, but not yet perfect. 

We will have to work on that, but for the first time sewing with Burlap, I think they turned out kind of cute.

I think the pillows will look nice on my couch, but they are definitely just decoration because Burlap is stiff and not soft at all . . .  plus it smells.