Last week my daughter, Emily, and I visited one of her favorite shops, West Elm. Because she and her husband, Aaron, have just moved into a new apartment in a beautiful 1920s Art Deco building, I wanted to buy her a little house warming present.
For her gift, Emily picked out a couple of pillows in gray and ivory to put on their black couch, while I grabbed some swatches that I spied on a nearby display. Emily couldn’t imagine what I was going to do with those little samples, but she’s used to my weird ideas.
The swatches were heavyish fabrics (leather, suede and wovens) in neutral shades, glued to a card on one edge. The colors were mostly light, so I added a few vintage dark wool suiting samples. Because I didn’t want to deal with bulky seams, or reduce the size of the swatches, I just trimmed them all to 3″ x 4″ rectangles and glued them to a piece of upholstery weight fabric. The pillow was finished with stuff I had on hand — black and gray grosgrain ribbon to cover the seams, and a piece of ivory wool for the back. Now she has three pillows for the price of two.
What a great looking building! I love the pillow – what a great idea to use the samples. I am sure she appreciates your ‘weird ideas’!
Clever idea!! I like the graphic look. And what a gorgeous building to live in. Lucky daughter!!
Lucky daughter & son.
xxo’s
Love it! Has a wonderful modern/graphic quality to it! 🙂
Hugs,
Mickie
Martha, that pillow turn out beautiful. Love the nuetral colors and what a great way of using little fabric samples.