Today, I am bursting at the seams to share this DIY. I feel like I say this every time, but this project has been looming in my mind for a while now.  Ok, so maybe just around 2 months, but still. I doubted whether I could do it with the resources I have in my town and searched online for fringes, trims, sequins, and whatnot.  At the end of the day, I bought one hundred percent of the materials in this project from my local JoAnn’s. Go figure!

Moroccan wedding blankets have been on the design scene for a few years now and are just starting to go more mainstream with offerings at West Elm, Urban Outfitters, and Pottery Barn. They are all still pretty pricey, however, and the cream pillow from Pottery Barn is still close to $80. Not my version, though.  This beauty came in at just $29 for all the fabrics and trims. It’s a tad pricier than most of my DIYs, but I definitely think it’s worth the cash, sweat, and tears.

 

Most of the fun of this project was placing the lines of alternating fringe, sequins and mohair where I wanted.  Although this project is a snap with a sewing machine, you could do it all by hand if you don’t have one since it’s a whole 12 straight lines. I decided to take the help and use my machine this time even though on most projects I spend ample time trying to figure out how NOT to use the sewing machine.  You guys know I hate to sew, right? So I did it anyway for this project because I just wanted to do it that badly.  If you feel the same, keep on reading for the full instructions (and more photos)! 

Materials:

• Two Natural Muslin Dinner Napkins – these will form the pillow body.
• 1 1/2 yards 2″ natural cotton fringe
• 1 yard 1/2 Mohair Trim (similar)
• 1 spool Sequin Trim

Tools:

• Scissors
• Straight Pins
• Thread to match trims
• Sewing machine

ONE lay out one of your dinner napkins and cut all trims to the width of the napkin. 1 1/2 yards of fringe should give you three 18″ sections. 1 yard of mohair trim will give you two 18″ sections, and you can use as many rows of sequins as you’d like!  I used four 18″ rows.

TWO using your pins, secure each of your sections of trim to the napkin. THREE After all trims are secured to the napkin, sew right over the tops of them with your machine, securing them to the napkin. FOUR after all of the trims are sewn to one napkin, lay it flat on your workspace with the trims up.  Cut the OTHER napkin in half and layer it on top of the trim napkin as shown below.  The finished edge of the napkin should be overlapping in the center and facing down (toward the trims).

FIVE pin the two napkins together all around the edge then sew in a square about 1″ from the edge all of the way around the napkin.  This will result in an 18″ pillow.  You can barely see my stitch line since it matches the napkin, so I’ve shown the stitching in a blue dotted line below.

SIX when your pillow is sewn, flip it right side out.  SEVEN remove the chain stitch on the bottom of the fringe that the manufacturer puts there to prevent it from getting tangled up in the store.

 

Voila! You pillow is done, so you should probably put a pillow form in there and enjoy it asap.

Do you love it as much as I do?  I am thinking of making another so I have a pair.  Since I have two napkins left over from my four pack, it would just take a few more trims to make it all happen!

 

Definitely give me your thoughts!  Is it too fussy?  Or totally worth the work?