monograms and buttons, oh my!

Our couch is massive. It sleeps 4... comfortably. So naturally, we have a serious need for throw pillows. I saw a cute idea I liked for a monogrammed pillow and thought, why not do it with buttons? I have a pretty substantial button collection that was passed down to me, so I already had most of the supplies at home.

I bought a pillow from Meijer. I totes dig the Katie Brown collection so I often check out the home goods section. I found a pillow I liked and traced a lower case g on it with a sharpie. If you are not a good free-hander, perhaps you should try chalk. I laid the buttons out and pinned a few down. A little rearranging was necessary to get a good shape.

Note: it will save time if you do not hot-glue the buttons to the pillow. It will be quick, but the buttons will fall off and you'll just have to sew them on anyway... fail.

At this point, I just sewed the buttons on, one at a time. I did need to rip a hole in the seam to fit my hand inside the pillow, which I stitched back up when I was done. It might be easier to start with a pillow that zips.

It might be cute to try this idea with something other than a letter... geometric shapes? an animal? Or maybe it would be cute to try multi-colored buttons as well?

I think the end result is sort of cottage-y chic.

If you want to make this at home, you'll need:

1 pillow, either one you've sewn or store bought

Buttons

Thread

Needle

Sharpie or chalk

I hope you learn from my mistake on this one and don't waste time gluing, because you'll also waste time peeling all of the glue off of the buttons before you can sew them back on. If your pillows are as well-used as ours, you'll need them to be sturdy!

Happy sewing!