Making a Vintage Shabby Chic Pillow for Decorating

Using old vintage items is a great way to create a shabby chic pillow for decorating a living room, guest room or even the front porch swing. This fun pillow was inspired by an antique cloth children's book and my belief that you can never have too many pillows.

I leafed through the children's book until I found a page I especially liked and simply cut it out at the spine. Before you gasp and call me nuts for destroying an antique book, let me explain it's condition. Even though the actual pages were quite strong and the colors were good, the edges of each page were pocked and deteriorating. There were also small stains in various places on several pages. The condition of the book made it's value worthless except for possible decorating use.

Since it may not be possible for you to find an antique cloth children's book suitable for this decorating project, I would suggest a small doily, vintage hankie or a piece of embroidery or needlepoint. All of these could still be found in a stash of vintage textiles. For an even closer replication, you could scan an old black and white family photo. Print it on t-shirt transfer paper and iron it to a piece of muslin.

The beauty of this pillow is it's one-of-a-kind charm. The body was made of old pillow ticking, the fringe is from an old bedspread and the buttons came from my button tin. The rick-rack was a hand-me-down from several generations back, but it can easily be newly purchased today.

Things Needed to Make a Vintage Shabby Chic Pillow:

Blue and white pillow ticking-1/3-yard or an old pillow covering
Measuring tape
Scissors
Cloth children's book or suggested substitution
Straight pins
Sew machine
White rick-rack
White bedspread fringe, 48-inches
Stuffing
Hand sewing needle and thread
5/8-inch flat silver buttons, four

Steps Needed to Make a Vintage Shabby Chic Pillow:

Step 1
Cut two pieces of blue and white pillow ticking 10 1/2-inches wide by 13-inches long. Cut a 6 1/2-inch wide by 8 1/2 inch long cloth children's book page or one of the suggested substitutes.

Step 2
Place one ticking piece right side up on your sewing table. Center the book page right side up on the ticking and pin. Topstitch all four edges of the book page to the ticking, as close to the edge of the book page as possible.

Step 3
Cut two 6 1/2-inch pieces and two 8 1/2-inch pieces of white rick-rack. Place the rick-rack on the edges of the stitched book page to border it and cover the topstitching. Pin the rick-rack to the fabric. Attach the rick-rack by topstitching down the center of the rick-rack, around the book page. This is the shabby chic pillow front.

Step 4
Cut a 48-inch length of 4-inch wide, white bedspread fringe. Place the pillow front on your sewing table with the right side up. Starting at the center of the bottom edge, lay the fringe on the pillow front with the straight edge matching the raw pillow front edge. Pin the fringe around the four edges of the pillow front. Bedspread fringe has enough stretch that it can be flexed around the corners. Folding a miter corner is not necessary. Stitch the fringe to the pillow front, as close to the edge as possible.

Step 5
Lay the pillow front, right side up, on your sewing table. Place the ticking piece for the pillow back on the pillow front with the wrong side up. Match the edges and pin. Stitch around the side and top edges of the pillow front using a 1/2-inch seam allowance and leaving the bottom edge open.

Step 6
Turn the shabby chic pillow right side out. Fill the pillow with stuffing. Pin the bottom edge together and hand sew it closed.

Step 7
Choose four, 5/8-inch diameter flat silver buttons from your button stash. Place the buttons over the rick-rack corners on the pillow front. Hand sew to secure.