PLAID ON PARADE

It's a fun week at the following blogs:  The Polohouse, Vignette Design,  Upstairs Downstairs, and Hyacinths for the Soul.         They are having a Tartan Day celebration to give us a chance to show off our plaids.  Be sure to stop by these wonderful blogs for a visit.  

A year or so ago, I did a post on my infatuation with plaid over the years -- you may view it by clicking here.

 When I go junk hunting, I look for wool plaid skirts in good condition which I can make into pillows. Most new Pendleton wools sell for about $40 per yard, but I have found skirts for under $10 that contain almost two yards of fabric.  My latest find was an authentic Royal Stewart Tartan according to the tag from Pendleton.

My method of operation is to completely deconstruct the skirt which sometimes takes longer than to actually make the pillow, which is O.K. as I have more time than money!  Once I have it in pieces of fabric, I wash them in Woolite, hang to dry, then steam out the wrinkles and/or pleat marks.

I was able to get two 12"x22" pillows from this skirt.  There wasn't enough fabric, however, to make a cording.  So I just made some using black twill, which frames the pillow well.

When out and about I also look for wool plaid travel blankets, but they are getting hard to find at a decent price.

Here are three more of the pillows I have made.  This is a pillow out of a piece of embroidery and a green plaid pleated Pendleton skirt.

Not a plaid, but a great check pillow made out of a Ralph Lauren wool skirt.

This red plaid was from a Ralph Lauren pleated skirt that had these great leather fasteners on it.

 

I enjoy making these pillows as it is sometimes a challenge to figure out how to match the plaids and make the size pillow I want from a finite piece of fabric.  Besides that quality wool just feels SO good!