{ let’s imagine } pretty pillows

Victoria ~ EdinHome Co.

A few weeks back I purchased this fabric to make pillows for my new product line, The Edin Collection (launching in mid-May)…

I really enjoy the design process involved in creating lovely and unique soft furnishings, especially with fun fabrics like these! Before I started cutting I played with the fabric to determine which coordinating fabrics and patterns worked best together, I sketched a few pillow-front ideas like using buttons, incorporating fabric/pattern blocking or taking advantage of directional prints and – based on my sketches – I created some patterns to get me started.

Before I can get down to the business of creating though, I seek out inspiration! Interiors shared on all my favourite blogs are extremely inspirational, and of course I devour the beautiful pages of my Canadian House & Home and Style at Home magazines!!

Real-life inspiration is the best though!!

Like this sweet pillow from Anthopologie…

I explored this wonderful new-to-Vancouver store yesterday while on the hunt for drawer pulls for my “new” bathroom vanity (a soon-to-share story!!) and was immediately inspired by this flower appliqued pillow. I found myself thinking how not only could I make a pillow like this, my coordinated fabric would be perfect!

So don’t be surprised if you see a similar pillow as part of The Edin Collection :-)

a totally great diy but not the one i promised… oops!

If you dropped by earlier this week you’ll remember that I promised a DIY project with a couple brass pieces I found on a recent treasure hunt excursion.

These ones ------->

Being the meany that I am, I didn’t share with you what I’m trying with this vase and bowl… it’s a mystery DIY project! Truth be told, I’m keeping mum because there’s a good chance that what I’m doing won’t work out! Regardless of the end result, I’ll share because… well… sometimes things work better then expected and sometimes things flop! Fingers crossed that this project doesn’t flop!! ;-)

Anyway… the whole project is being held ransom by my favourite art supply store. I made my way downtown the other day to pick up a product (which can’t be named… mystery project, remember?!) only to learn that it’s out of stock in all the stores in the lower-mainland!! What?! Not a total bust though because they had what I needed in their warehouse. So… I wait. And you wait.

P.S. The trip downtown is always a pleasure. See this fantastic building? This is The Dominion Building, circa 1910, and it’s where the art store is located. It’s a little piece of Paris, France in our city and I so love it!!!

BUT lovely DTTD readers… don’t navigate away because I have another DIY project to share with you!

If you’re a reader of my personal blog, Edin’s House, you may have seen this project… I love it and thought I’d share it again, especially since our new readers won’t have seen it :-)

Special (to me) Pillows!

This is my Mom’s old cableknit sweater. I “stole” it from her about 15 years ago and wore a few holes in it! Even though I don’t wear this sweater any more, I love it! And I’ve kept it… because it reminds me of my Mom, who passed away a little over 8 years ago now.

Rather than have it sit around in my wardrobe, I made a pillow out of it.

It turned out wonderfully; wait until you see it!!

In fact, I had so much FUN making this one very special pillow that I felt motivated to raid our closet for other things to make pillows from ;-)

A couple of Christmases ago my brother Brad gave me a wrap that I really liked. The problem is that no matter what I tried, I couldn’t find a comfortable and attractive way wear it. I felt so badly that I wasn’t enjoying a gift that Brad had put thought in to buying for me!

Here are a couple photos of the wrap.

I love that the wrap is made of natural fibres and that it has fantastic, woven texture!! As I was digging through things in my closet I knew that this wrap – with it’s dangly tassels – would make a terrific pillow!

So how did the pillows turn out?

Take a look!!

And… of course… my sweater pillow :-)

Soft, cozy, charming… and a little memory of my Mom!!

Now I need our basement renovation to be completed so that I have some rooms to actually PUT my new pillows in!! I have decorating ideas though… something to share in another post!!

Edin Home Interiors & Design: Helping you to create Eden in your home!