Jazzing up the Venue

After we chose our venue, I started googling it to try to see some inspirational wedding pictures.  I eventually came across a local photographer's blog that featured a bride who decided to spruce up the space a bit by adding some pillows around the reception area, and more specifically on the benches that are placed throughout the venue.

Pillows on Benches / Image via Michelle Amarante Photography

Since we will be using the benches for VIP seating during our ceremony, I figured that this would be a great opportunity to make some pillows to make them more comfortable.  

So, I went to my favorite fabric resource, and went looking for some heavier fabrics - ones that would last through the wedding, and could later be used in our house, but also matched the colors I picked for the wedding - orange, yellow, green, gray, and white.  I found so many that I loved, so I bought them....all of them!

Please ignore the turquoise one - not a wedding color / Screenshot of Fabric.com order

Once the fabrics came in, I went out to Joann's Fabrics to buy pillow inserts, and then got to work at my sewing machine.  I was going to be creative and do a bunch of different types of cases, envelope, pocket, sham, etc, but then I got lazy and decided to just do normal pillow cases.

And because I was so lazy, I didn't even really measure much. Here's what I did:

Step 1 - Lay out pillow inserts.

Pillow Inserts from Joann Fabric / Personal Picture

Closeup of Pillow Insert from Joann Fabric / Personal Picture

Step 2 - Decide which fabric will go on each pillow.

 Chosen Fabric on Each Pillow Insert / Personal Picture

Step 3 - Trace pillow insert onto folded fabric. No picture for this step - couldn't take one while tracing.  Sorry!

Step 4 - Pin on trace mark for sewing purposes. Make sure to leave part of one side open so you can turn the pillow case right side out and stuff it.   

Pinned Pillow Case - Note open side at bottom / Personal Picture

Step 5 - Straight sew pillow case on pins and along traced line.  Make sure to reverse stitch your beginning and ending spots to make sure that your stitching doesn't unravel.

Step 6 - Turn your pillow case right side out, and stuff with correct size pillow insert.

Step 7 - Fold under the edges of the fabric at the opening, and pin shut.  

Stuffed pillow case with opening pinned shut / Personal Picture

Step 8 - Hand-sew the opening so that it stays shut.  

Finished Pillows / Personal Picture

Finished Pillows - Dandelion Theme Fabric / Personal Picture

Finished Pillows - Suzani Theme Fabric / Personal Picture

Finished Pillows - Ozborne Theme Fabric / Personal Picture

And that's it, folks! So simple!  I probably made all of these pillows in less than two hours. The most time consuming part was the hand-sewing, and that was distracting because I was doing it while watching Hell's Kitchen and MasterChef.  

I hope that the guests enjoy these, but not too much, because I want to take them all home with me after the wedding.  Do you think I need to put a sign up that says don't take the pillows? Should I add some ribbon to them to tie them to the benches like the other bride did?