Double Sided Christmas Pillows

Our house has been filled with holiday chaos for the past two weeks. First I was trying to get the tree ready, then the house decorations, then the shopping and wrapping…then more shopping and wrapping. I was a hyperactive elf these past two weeks! Okay, maybe all year ’round I’m a hyperactive elf, but really…watching me working my way through my “to do” list is like watching a Charlie Chaplin movie on fast forward! Thankfully all that work paid off, as I am almost done with my “to do” list. I just have to finish my homemade gifts.

Last year I made these Jingle Pillows as homemade gifts for Mom, Margo (my sister-in-law) and also one for our home. All the pillows turned out pretty good, but with one little handicap: they were not washable. I used my canvas printer to print the “Jingle”, but I didn’t realize that they couldn’t be washed or the ink would bleed. Unfortunately I only discovered this after I had finished them all. Oh well, I know better now!

Since Mom and Margo really liked their gifts last year, this year I wanted to make some more Christmas pillows for them. But this time I was determined to make them machine washable. Otherwise, what is the point of making pillows as gifts? Instead, why not make a sign or wall art? After some research online, I finally found an easy way to do it. I explain the method in my “Image Transfer to Fabric” post.

As I no longer had to worry about bleeding ink or machine washing, I decided to go with a very light-color fabric for this year’s Christmas Pillows. I bought some white denim fabric from Joann’s and cut the fabric into two equal squares of 18 inches. I was planning to make 17 by 17 inch pillows, so with a 1/2 inch seam line on both sides, the final cut pieces needed to be 18 by 18 inches.

Next I designed the images that I wanted to transfer to the fabric. This part was pretty easy, because Margo and Mom loved the Christmas gift tags I made this year, so I adjusted those designs for the pillow faces. Then I printed the images to heat transfer paper and cut them to a manageable size.

With my printed designs ready, I started transferring the images to the fabric using the “image transfer to fabric” method.

Once the images were transferred, the rest was so easy. I just sewed the two pieces of fabric together but left a little gap to fill the pillows with stuffing.

I used my sewing machine to sew the pillows, but to close off the gaps, I used fabric glue. For those who don’t use a sewing machine, I recommend using fabric glue or heat bond adhesive to finish the pillow, as they are equally good for bonding fabric.

…and here are the finished presents!

I think they turned out really cool, and the best part is each side of the pillows has a different design!

I love the way they look all together.

Oh… before I forget – here are the 4 pillow designs if you’d like make some pillows for yourself. Or you can even print them and fill your frames with them 😉 Just click on the button below and get your free copy for your personal use only – they are all in the Christmas section of the VIP Patch!

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Merry Christmas and a great New Year!

Handan, xo