The Fabric Maverick says... You can be a knock-off artist!

Recently I took a weekend off to just goof off with a friend. We went to a small town to go "antiquing". While we strolled in and out of shops, we discovered an upscale shop with a variety of gift items including exclusive bedding products. The store owners had created this lovely bed display with a variety of pillows arranged across the bed to create a luxurious feel. What caught my eye was a simple pillow made of hot pink minky. I picked it up and was stunned to see the price was $44.00. The next pillow was a lovely dupioni silk bed sham. It was simply constructed. There were no monograms. Nothing was extraordinary in the construction. This pillow was $80.00.  This, of course, started my wee mind thinking. I am not necessarily a creative person. You will never see me publishing a sewing book or selling my own designs. What I am is a great knock-off artist! Most of my friends are great knock off artists. There is no way I am going to pay $44.00 for a minky pillow that probably measured 14'' square. This is the advantage of sewing. You do not need a fancy machine with a thousand stitches. Most sewing is either done with a straight stitch or a zigzag stitch.  All of the rest is fluff! Fun fluff, but still fluff. I went home and scrounged around the sewing room and found some cheetah minky and a bag of poly-fil stuffing. I cut 2 - 18 '' squares from the cheetah minky. With right sides together, I sewed around each side using a 1/2'' seam leaving a 3-4'' opening on one side.  I always re-enforce the corner seams, because when you are stuffing it the corners will receive the most stress. I turned the pillow right sides out. I then began to stuff the pillow. It is a good idea to use a wooden spoon to stuff the poly-fil into the corners. Stuff the pillow until it is very fluffy and stuff just a little bit more. I  used a whole bag of stuffing. Then just slipstitch the opening closed. The beauty of minky is that you will have a hard time distinguishing the slipstitched area from the other seams. I only used a 1/2 yard of minky and one bag of stuffing for a total cost of  $11.75 for one pillow. That is quite a savings from $44.00 and an hour's time. Most of it spent stuffing while I watched "Project Runway". Here is my pillow:

My friend, Leslie, is a super knock-off artist. We both love French country. One of the best places to buy French country is Pierre Deux. A pillow can cost $200.00. Leslie saw a picture of a fabulous pillow in a magazine. This is her version: