Button Monogram Pillow

Being a newlywed, I am slightly obsessed with monograms. Particularly, my new one! Unfortunately, my darling hubby does not share my love of monograms. He calls them "the letters" & actively vocalizes how much he dislikes them. As you all know from my post For My Deer-est, I try to take into account both of our likes & dislikes when I'm planning projects, & ultimately when I decorate our house. But, this is one major exception! I saw this blog post on Pinterest about a monogramed button pillow, & I knew I had to make one for myself!


A few months ago, my awesome mother-in-law gave me her old sewing machine (which was originally her mother-in-law's as well!). We (Micah helped) finally got it up & running, so I've been chomping at the bit for a sewing project. I stumbled upon a great deal at Target the other day while I was aimlessly looking around. They had a whole aisle dedicated to curtains on sale, & I found this amazing Shabby Chic curtain for $13!  I have VERY big plans for this curtain, but we will cover more about that in a later post.

I love the burlap look of it! I decided my first project with it was going to be making a button pillow. So, I made a trip to my local JoAnn's & picked up the necessities. After some browsing, I found a box of assorted buttons, which was just what I was looking for. You could also get buttons in the same hue or color family, but I wanted an eclectic mix. I also picked up some thread... as a sewing beginner, my supplies are seriously lacking. I found a very helpful blog for sewing newbies like myself that outlined what you need. She recommended a high quality thread, like Gutterman Natural Cotton Thread, in a neutral color. The natural cotton is a little pricy, so I went with a spool of the polyester in Col. 512.

Once I had those two key items, I got started on the design. First, I unpacked my curtain & figured out the size I wanted my pillow to be. I measured a throw pillow that came with our couch to gauge what I wanted mine to be. It was 17"x17", so I measured out & cut my fabric at 18"x18" to give myself some leeway while I was sewing it up. My squares were all wrinkled from being folded in packaging, so I went ahead & ironed them before I started anything else.

Then, I found a K that I liked by searching on Google (of course!). I enlarged & printed it out, but it wasn't quite as big as I wanted so I freehanded the same K on a blank sheet of paper. I cut it out to create a template, pinned it to the center of my fabric, & traced it with a pencil. A pencil wasn't necessarily the best thing to use, since the lines are still faintly visible, but I was working with what I had. I think I'm going to invest in a few Pilot Frixion pens that have ink that disappears when heated with an iron, as is also suggested in the sewing beginners blog post.

Once I had a pattern to follow, I got to work! I started out by picking a few buttons I liked & arranging them on the K, starting in the center. From there, I worked my way out along the rest in small sections, hand stitching the buttons. I tried to mix the colors & sizes of the buttons up. It doesn't matter if it looks perfect either... believe me, its impossible to get it perfect! To make things a little easier, I doubled up my thread on my needle so I could cut down on how many times I stitched through the button holes without worrying about the buttons not being secure.


I'm not going to lie.... this process is SLOW, but remember the classic story about the Tortoise and the Hare. My patience most definitely paid off! (And your's will too!)


Once I was satisfied with my finished monogram, I pinned the two pieces of fabric together. (Remember to do that with the buttons facing in - VIP!) I used my same thread to sew with my machine as well. Now remember, this is my very first sewing project with a machine (eeek!), so I'm not really going to go into all the details, because I am by no means an expert. I was just excited that my stitches weren't completely wonky! I sewed up 3 of the sides completely, & then did about 3/4 of the 4th side (This is so I can stuff the pillow & hand stitch the little hole up). I made sure I left the gap on the bottom of my pillow so it would be less noticeable.


I stuffed the pillow with Poly-Fil that I also got from JoAnn's & stitched up the hole. Voila!! A brand-spanking-new monogramed pillow! All in all, this little project cost me about $25 to make... but I will also be using the same fabric for a few other projects. I am pretty much in love with my pillow, & I'm pretty proud of myself (if I do say so myself) for my first sewing project! I hope y'all like it as much, too. :)