Lovely Weeds: Burlap Bow Pillows

Today's project takes me waaaaay out of my comfort zone!

Fabric. Sewing. Thread. Needles. EEK, no.

But burlap? Hot glue? That I may be able to pull off!

I've been itching to try a burlap project since they exploded all over Pinterest.

No Sew Burlap Curtains from Four Generations One Roof

Daisy Mae Belle's burlap bed skirt

Pretty Burlap Wreath from Laugh, Love, & Craft

Notice a "no-sew" trend here? I'm a builder at heart, and I don't think my preferred joining method of Torx-head screws would quite cut it here.

I had quite a bit of miscellaneous burlap left over after the holidays, and while wrapping up my projects for the upcoming Bazaar I decided some burlap pillows would soften up my inventory nicely. After confirming that hot glue wasn't a ridiculous idea for burlap, I went for it!

I don't have measurements for you, since I was using scrap material. It was 12" wide, and I just divided what I had into four.

I pinned about a half inch of the fabric to make a nice seam. The pins proved to be problematic because they didn't slip out of the semi-cool hot glue as well as I thought they would, but the idea was good in theory ;).

I pinned them on the "right side", and glued on the "wrong".

Below you'll find me focusing more on taking the picture, and less on pretending to glue for the sake of that picture! You don't need to put glue on what's already pinned, just where you're going to attach the other piece.

I overlapped a half inch again from the second piece, and used a spoon to press down and seal the hot glue. Burlap is obviously something that the glue is going to go through, so you don't want to press with your fingers. Ouch.

This is where I should have removed the pins! Word for the wise.

I was pleased to find that the seams are pretty strong. I didn't do anything fancy for the bottom seam, just added more glue a half inch above the edge and connected the two pieces. Easy peasy.

They needed more love!

I learned to make pretty burlap bows from this Shanty 2 Chic tutorial, and since I had extra of that ribbon too, I thought I'd try them again!

I followed that tutorial to the letter, including adding the piece of twine to the back.

I then threaded the twine ends through the center of the pillow using a yarn needle and tied a knot.

Time to stuff! I glued about two-thirds of the top seam and filled it with this Morning Glory "Cluster Stuff," a name I find hilarious. Don't sugar coat it - it's just stuff! I happened to have that on hand, I'm sure there are a hundred things you could fill your pillow with.