L.O.V.E. :: Scrabble Tile Pillow Covers

Good Morning!

I have been meaning to post about one of my favorite items I made as a Christmas gift this past year and today is the day!  My sister and I decided to do a "Pinterest Christmas" and make each others gifts based on our favorite pins.  We both are a little addicted to Pinterest (Okok, maybe only I am addicted, but anyway!).  It was really fun to watch as Clare posted new pins and I would "like" them instead of repinning to keep her from knowing which ones I intended to make.  I am glad I waited until now to write about this, because this craft is super fitting with Valentine's Day just around the corner.  What better gift (or just a decoration for yourself) than a set of these Scrabble Tile Pillow Covers:

These pillow covers do require a teeny bit of sewing knowledge, but are really quite easy!  To keep costs down, I used muslin to resemble the wood tone of scrabble blocks and black cotton fabric for my letters.  Because the muslin was so thin, I had to use 2 layers for the pillow form, to make sure the pattern on my recycled pillow forms didn't show through.  But even with doubling the amount of fabric needed, the cost was still less than purchasing a more expensive cotton fabric.

Supplies:

*Fabric for pillow covers- amount will depend on the size of your pillows (I used roughly 4 yards)

*Black fabric for scrabble letters and numbers

*Black embroidery thread and needle

*Iron-on adhesive

*Scissors and/or rotart cutter, ruler and cutting mat, sewing machine w/thread

*Four square pillows (Mine were 15x15)

I am sorry in advance, because I have no pictures to go along with this tutorial.  :(  When I was putting these together, I didn't really intend to use them as a tutorial post.  But, I really regret that...hopefully the instructions are easy to follow, sans photos.

Instructions:

1.  Cut all the pieces of the pillow covers.  Instead of reinventing the wheel here, check out THIS tutorial.  It gives clear directions and is one of the best tuts for envelope pillow cases I have come across.  (If you choose to use muslin, as I did, you will need to cut double for each piece of each pillow.)  **DO NOT sew your pillow covers together yet- we have to add the letters first! (O:

2.  Prepare your letters and numbers.  Whenever I work on an applique project, I use Word to print my letters/numbers/shapes/etc.  Look through the fonts your computer has and pick one that is very plain and most closely resembles the letter from actual scrabble tiles.  The size you choose will depend on what size your pillow are.  I wanted mine to be very prominent, so they were roughly large enough to fill one sheet of paper per letter.  I typed all 4 numbers on a separate sheet, at a much smaller size.

3.  Trace your letters and numbers onto the paper side of the iron-on adhesive- Letters and Numbers BACKWARDS!  Yes, I just used caps and an exlamation point...I have been doing little applique projects for a couple years now and I still mess this up from time to time.  It's a really aggrevating "oops" and I don't want you to pull any hair out during this project. ;-)

4.  Iron your black fabric to the iron-on adhesive.  Once cool, cut out all letters and numbers and remove the paper backing.

5.  Iron your letters and numbers to your front fabric pieces.  I tried to be as scientific as I could, regarding getting the letters centered and the numbers all about the same height from the bottom.  You may not be as OCD as I am, so this might not bother you.  If not, just eyeball your letters and numbers, then iron into place. 

6.  Once you have all 4 square fronts ironed beautifully, it is time to stitch.  I don't have an applique machine so I do all mine by hand.  (I honestly prefer the quaint look it gives- something basic but pretty).  I like to use 2 strands of embroidery thread for a little extra thickness.  Do a basic running stitch along the edges of all the letters and numbers.

7.  Sew your pillows!  Refer back to THIS tutorial to complete the sewing part of this project.  My OCD kicking in again, but I was mindful to make sure all the envelopes were sewn to open in the same direction.

I had such fun making these for my sister and I knew she would love them.  One little side story about this gift that still makes me laugh:  I had asked my sister for advice on where to find cheap pillow forms for a "Christmas gift for my mother-in-law" and she said she had a set of 4 pillows I could have for the project.  I could barely contain my excitement waiting for her to open these pillows and realize that she GAVE me the pillows to make HER Christmas gift.  Haha, too funny.

I hope you found this (pictureless) tutorial helpful and good luck with your own version of these pillows!  I would love to see what you create!  (O:

*I am linking up to this great Pinteresting Party #23!  Go check it out for loads of other great ideas!