Union Jack Love

Welcome to Our Modern Cottage!

This is my very first post, and hopefully I'll be able to do it more than once a year!  Like so many others, I too have been inspired to try new things and stretch myself a bit from reading about other people and what they do with their time.  I live in a small city in the Portland, OR metro area, where I try to do my best to live out my faith, learn, grow, explore,  make happy memories (and on occasion, dinner) for my family, friends and myself. With a little bit of luck and a lot of grace, maybe I'll inspire you too, or at least give you a pick-me-up in the process!  Maybe eventually, I'll learn how to make this blog actually look appealing. So here we go...

In case you lived in a hole this Summer and nobody told you, the Olympics were held in London, England this year.  My husband and I watched, we cheered, but mainly we ate junk food while lounging in the living room, critiquing the athletes.  Seriously, its the best part! You know you did the same thing. "He missed it.  Too much splash." or "Come on. Stick that landing!" How about, "Paddling a boat on one knee?  That's an Olympic sport?!" I love London.  The way it sounds, smells. The history.  I love it all.

(This picture is courtesy of some random person on the internet.  I don't know how to follow all of the blogging rules just yet.)

 Now, if you haven't been there before, its definitely worth the time and money in my opinion.  For those of you who are a little nervous about going overseas, London is a great way to break yourself in.  Its completely different from America, yet has a sense of familiarity all at the same time.  The fact that they speak English can be really comforting in a foreign country. That was one of the main reasons my husband I went there for our honeymoon back in 2001 (Has it been that long? Geez).   He had never been out of the States really. OK, Canada, so I figured London would be a sure way to ease him in. I had been there a couple of years prior through a study abroad program through my college. It just may be the only place on earth where when they ask, "Are you ready to order?" you try to sound as sophisticated as possible when ordering a burger and fries, wait, no, chips and a glass of water....with extra ice. They hate that.  Everything sounds prettier with an English accent. However, English accents are NOT the reason I'm writing today.  Nope, not even close.  You know what is? Pillows. Union Jack pillows. Apparently Union Jacks are all the rage right now.  I'm guessing because of those dern Olympics.  I wouldn't know what was raging or not.  I'm still in the "I have a four month old," brain fog and my five year old son is forced to live off of protein shakes. Don't judge.  I hear my husband making him one right now. Sigh.

So, to finally get to my point, my cousin's wife pinned a cute Union Jack pillow on pinterest last month and out of the goodness of my heart and to be honest, just needing to get some creative juices flowing again, I told her I would make her one.  Seven short hours later, this was the end result...  

Such a nice, fuzzy representation!  Or maybe my eyes are going bad.  Kinda cute, huh?  If you'd like to learn what I did, keep reading.  If you'd like to go back to doing your laundry, you can do that too.  I won't be offended. :0) 

What I did was bought two different shades of linen and figured out how big of a pillow I wanted.  Usually you do that the other way around, but I have a tendency to not think sewing projects through.  Opps!  The good news is, all you need are some very BASIC sewing skills to make this. 

 I first cut out the front square, 18.5 x 18.5 to allow for seams for my for my 18 x 18 pillow.  Next I cut out the strips that would make the Union Jack flag.  The strips are two layers; one light and one dark.  The light strip was about 2in wide and the dark was 1.5in.   I didn't measure the length, I just made sure they were long enough to cover the length of the pillow and then some. You can do whatever. I'm flexible.

 I pinned on the first strip going kiddie corner and then sewed it on  1/4in from each side.  I continued with the darker fabric, pinned and sewed that on top of the first strip in the same way, centering the darker strip in the middle of the lighter strip.   You got me?

  Next came the part I had never done before; hand fraying. Once I got the hang of it, I really enjoyed it.  You just have to play with the threads a bit until you get the look you want.  Grab a thread and gently pull to the left (or right) and watch the magic happen.

 After sewing each two-toned strip, make sure you fray it before sewing on the next layer.  Makes it a lot easier.

 You will soon become a Fraying Queen and will want to make more pillows,

 so you can fray those too!!  It takes some time, but the end result will make you want to pat yourself on the back.  Who doesn't need one of those?

 This is what the top of the pillow looked like after sewing on all of the strips.  God Save the Queen (and apparently Prince Harry, because he's been a bit naughty lately!)  Its important to try and center them as best you can.  And by best, I mean try your hardest not to stray from your original design and make it look like the American Flag...because that would be stinkin' cute and will be my next pillow.  Another blog.

Here's a little closer look of the fraying.  I'm LOVIN' the fray! The fun part is you can just keep going and going until it looks/feels right to you!  There is no wrong way. This is supposed to be rustic looking, so have at it!

After talking it over with my Mama, I decided to go ahead and line the top square with some left-over muslin I had from another project.  This gave it more weight, looked more professional and would no longer be see-through that way.  As for how I actually made it into a pillow, I did an envelope enclosure in the back with the light linen fabric.  If you're a novice sewer or can only do straight lines (Me! Me!) this is a great way to make a pillow.  Its simple and there are no buttons or zippers involved.  I forgot to take pictures of the back before I took it down to California, but I learned how to do it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhZnHhbcN-Q! No, I didn't make the awesome Paris pillow in the background...just please don't tell anyone! ;0)

I'd say my first post was a success.  Hope you enjoyed it, learned something new or at least got to critique my writing/photography skills while eating junk food! U.S.A!!!


Happy Trails,

Rici