Guest Post from Jaxon Jill Designs!!

Today is a first for us on the Banana Pants blog!  My very first guest blogger "tutorial"!  I'm so excited!  Kristina is a mom and a SUPER CRAFTER who owns her own company at Jaxon Jill Designs.  I'm in awe of all her adorable boutique outfits for kiddos and her beautiful hairbling!  Please welcome her and feel free to share this tutorial and her website with your friends and family.  Without further ado. . .

Well hello! Let me introduce myself. Some call me Kristi, some call me Tina, some just call me soccer mom of the year. Ok, only the 1st two are really true. You can call me Kristina, though. I am a stay at home mama with two kiddos, a 3 1/2 extremely active boy and an 18m old sweet and sassy daughter. I also have a small business that was born out of my love for crafting, sewing and making things for my two kids- Jaxon Jill Designs. When I’m not busy with taking care of hubs, kiddos or JJD, I love to do some crafting.

One of my favorite things to do is refashion-Take something and turn it into something else other than it’s intended purpose. With the Christmas season here, I’m going to share how I took some Christmas napkins and turned them into decorative throw pillows.

Here is what you need:

 

-2 packs of decorative fabric napkins size 20”x20”

  (I found mine at Target-on sale! Suh-weeet!)

• 3/4 yard burlap (optional) 
• Wonder Under or Heat n Bond (fusible interfacing)

-1 package fiber fill (fluffy stuffing-found at Hobby Lobby-pretty sure even Wal-mart)

-Sewing machine or glue gun (I won’t tell if you want to glue it...it will be our secret!)

Print a letter or short word from your computer that you would want to applique onto your pillow. You can even google “shapes” and print out a Christmas tree. I chose “joy” to applique onto my pillow. Be sure to change your font to about 300 in size.

Iron your napkins flat. Use the directions on your fusible interfacing to fuse the interfacing onto the wrong side (back side) of one napkin (this napkin will be what we will use to cut out your word or image). I don’t have pics of this step because I thought I could skip it...but it doesn’t look as well as it should so...do as I say...not as I do haha!

 

Pin your letters onto the napkin that has fusible interfacing on it. 

Cut your letters/shape out from the fabric.

Fuse your letters/shape onto the face of one napkin. I chose the right side to fuse the word “joy.” You can stop here or top stitch for a more durability and finished look. 

Place your napkin face down (right sides together) on top of the burlap to cut a 20”x20” piece of burlap. Pin napkin to burlap. You could totally pin two napkins together instead. I like the contrast and texture the burlap adds.

Sew the four sides around the pillow leaving about a 4-5 inch opening (for filling). Turn your pillow right side out. Use a pin to pull out the corners.

Fill your pillow with the fiber fill until it is mostly full. Don’t stuff it so much that it makes it difficult to close. 

 

Fold the opening inward so that you can stitch it closed with your sewing machine. Most people would hand stitch this opening closed but I’m too lazy so I use my machine. If you’re really lazy, you could totally hot glue it! (I actually hot glued a corner that was a little open...shhhh!) You can stop there or go make 2-4 more pillows with your remaining materials. 

 Place your new pillow or pillows on the couch. Ooooh and ahhh over them and let hubs ask you if you bought ‘em. You can proudly tell him you whipped this baby up yourself! Viola! New pillows that didn’t cost $40 each and they also match your kitchen napkins. Woot!

Make sure you visit Jaxon Jill Designs for more craft ideas and amazing boutique items and outfits for you and your kiddos!