a new look for the couch

Oh boy, it was time for a little update! The original pillow covers on this couch were from when I first started sewing, and to be honest, I was never really sold on the darker colors I had chosen.

I’ve been trying to clean out a few of our closets, and in doing so, I came across these cream colored (furry!) pillow covers I bought years ago from Pottery Barn. I had never used them because they were meant for a much larger pillow form – it’s about time I finally got my act together and cut them down to size!

In that same closet, I also discovered this great piece of heavyweight cotton sateen Marimekko gingko print I bought years ago. I used that for the front of each pillow and backed them with a Lecien yarn dyed mini gingham in brown. The binding is the Marguerite Stripe in pink, which I love. It’s printed on the diagonal, so when cut in strips it gives the look of bias cut strips, without having to cut on the bias!

The last pillow was the most fun – I’ve never had a cover for this lumbar pillow insert, but have always wanted to use it on this couch. I started with the prints I had already used – the Marimekko print, the brown gingham and the pink stripe and then I pulled some additional prints from my stash. I went for some soft pinks, a few text prints and one pinky-coral solid. I cut 3 1/4″ squares to make a patchwork piece to cover this 16″ x 26″ pillow. What I love about this patchwork piece is that I finally cut into some favorite prints and now get to see them every day. While I’m sad knowing that I can’t rebuy many of these prints, at least they’re no longer just sitting in my stash!