falltastic pillows

boy howdy did i have a weekend! between antique malls, target, the pottery barn outlet and my parents' attic, i scored in a major way. there is a lot to share this week. first up for your consideration: these pb napkins, which were on sale for $1.97 a pop:


to clarify, they are orange and white. photographer i am not. i loved the geometric pattern, and i had bigger designs for them than wiping mouths. something more like this, which i can't remember where i found:


so. i hit up joann's for an assortment of ribbons and trims (which reminds me, i need to update my address so all my mail comes to my new home in the fabric section):

i could have just slapped the ribbon on the front and called it a day...but you KNOW i gotta make this as complicated as possible. i had to have mitered corners on my ribbon. first, i cut four pieces of ribbon to the length i wanted:


then i pinned the ends of the ribbon together and marked a 45 degree angle:

i sewed along the diagonal line, leaving a quarter inch extra length to make sure the ends didn't fray. all sewed up, it looked like this, with the stitched lines pointing up in opposite directions:

aaaaaaand this is where the in-process pictures stop. i pinned the ribbon square onto one napkin, folding the ends under and trimming any excess, then sewed down both sides of the ribbon. i wanted pom-pom trim around the edge, so i first sewed the trim to the right side of the napkin-with-ribbon-square, then i pinned a second napkin to it, right sides together to make a pom-pom sammie. i sewed around the edge using a zipper foot (those pom-poms are big, y'all). and ta-da, meet my new festive-yet-tasteful fall pillows:

here's a close-up of the mitered corners and pom-poms:

pretty good-looking for a pair of napkins and a handful of ribbon, eh?

i'm sharing this on diy day at a soft place to land, so head over to check out a slew of other great projects!