Bird Silhouette Pillows

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We've all got them.  Pillow we're bored with.  Pillows that have stains.  Pillows that have a rip.  Well, let's take those pillow covers and give them new life!  It's as easy as digging into your craft drawer and pulling out a piece of felt.  You're pillows will thank you.

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MATERIALS

Pillow cover

Felt

Silk flowers

Fabric glue (I like Fabri-tac)

Needle and thread

STEPS

Cut out your pattern.  Now, if you're no Picasso, fear not.  Simply go on line and search for "free clipart bird silhouette".  You'll come up with literally a zillion bird patterns to choose from, here are just a few I found.

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Make your pick online and print them out the size you need.  Place it on your felt, trace with chalk or pencil and cut out.

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Use your fabric glue to glue the silhouette to the pillow cover.  It's really that easy.  To make it look as professional as possible, apply the glue as close to the edge of your cut out - this keeps the edges from coming up.

For the white dove pillow I basically did the same thing, with a couple of extra elements added.  First, cut your branch out first.  Again, no art degree needed - just dray a couple of squiggly lines next to each other on brown felt and cut them out - don't worry, they'll end up looking like branches.  Glue them down to you pillow.

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Ignore the flowers in the picture above, I found it easiest to add the birds before the flowers. Either freehand draw the birds, or again, print out something you like from online, trace, cut and glue in place.

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Prep your silk blooms by pulling them off whatever branch or stem they're on.  Often, there will be a little plastic nub on the bottom which you can just snip off with a pair of scissors so the flowers will lay flat.  To add the flowers, you could glue them on with a heavy dollop of glue, but I was afraid with their uneven bottom they may not stay affixed well, so I chose to sew mine on.  Fear not, it's basically the same as sewing on a button and I know you can do that....right?

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And VOILA!!!!!  You've turned your run of the mill covers into fabulous, fancy, designer looking pillows for just a couple of dollars.