Easy Update For A Cute Throw Pillow With Pom Poms

Decorative throw pillows don’t get treated very nicely in my house.

But that doesn’t stop me from wanting to buy new accent pillows with an adorable design for my home decor each season despite the abuse I know that four dogs will give them.

Especially in early Spring when it isn’t warm enough yet to start planting flowers but my heart is already craving a pop of color inside and outside my home, especially in my living room, where we spend so much of our time.

For this month’s Creative Craft Challenge, I decided to throw caution to the wind and attempt to enjoy decorating with some new pillows again.  It was fun to try updating two inexpensive but cute throw pillows by adding decorative pom poms in different colors. 

Making these simple DIY pillows was like finding an easy way to get designer style but on a budget.

This post contains affiliate links that help to support this blog at no cost to you.  I hope that you find something beautiful for your home through these links. 

 

 

 

This post is part of the monthly Creative Craft Blog Hop, hosted by Sara of Birdz Of A Feather blog.  At the bottom of this post, I will direct you to the next blogger on the list to continue your journey of some wonderful and creative projects. 

Next month I will be joining Sara as a co-host.

 

 

If you are visiting from Ann’s site, The Apple Street Cottage, then welcome!  I know you will enjoy her project for A Bowl Full Of Bunnies this month.

 

 

Premade OUtdoor Fabric pillows can be given a fun and stylish makeover by adding decorative pom poms.

With four dogs in the house, our decorative pillows are always found on the floor and usually have the added accent of dog fur on every side.

If the dogs aren’t pushing the pillows to the floor to get them out of their way on the sofas, they can be found using them for their own personal head pillow. Spoiled dogs!

The challenge to keep throw pillows looking nice and pretty in my home is real.

 

 

Several years ago, I finally compromised and started buying the less expensive outdoor pillows with durable fabric from places like Walmart and Home Depot.

Most of the time they only cost around $5 each and can be very colorful pillows and very festive depending on the season.

The best part is they easily clean up with just a damp towel with soap and water.

They hold up better to the antics of my dogs and grandkids, and if they do get too dirty or smelly over time, then I don’t have any regrets about donating them to an animal shelter or throwing them away.

If you know which pillows I am talking about, then you also know that they are often colorful and functional, but lack that little something extra to call them fancy or creative.  And sometimes you want that extra bit of color or whimsical accent to make them more personable for your seasonal decor.

 

 

 

This Spring I found myself contemplating two such pillows for my home.  I like the different colors in the floral pattern, and the cute saying on one side, but they needed something more to provide that wow factor I am craving.

After some creative browsing for ideas, pom poms won the vote for the best way to easily update these pillows.

Once I decided on how to update my choice of pillows, I figured since I own several pom pom makers it would be a simple task to find just the right yarn colors and then somehow find the time to make nearly 100 small pom poms to sew around each pillow.

These days, I don’t have that kind of time and really should have started that project last month if I thought I could pull it off for this month’s challenge!  I don’t know why I thought it would be easy.

Instead, I realized it was already the week before the Creative Craft Hop, and not only hadn’t I purchased any yarn, but there was not one single pom pom made.  So I gave up on featuring that project for this month.

 

 

 

But then, I found a different solution…

That is until I visited my local Michaels store and came across this delightful string of pom pom garland in such amazing soft Spring colors and just loved it at first sight.  And you know that seasonal decor is already at discounted prices so it was an easy decision to make at 40% off.

Not all of the pom pom colors exactly match the printed colors in the two pillows, and I am okay with that.  They are colorful and fun and will give these already premade cute pillows a new jazzy personality just by adding them as an accent.

My project idea for this month was going to be possible after all!

 

 

 

First, I cut each pom pom from the string of garland and counted how many pom poms I had to work with.  On this garland, there were 76 pom poms.  That gave me 38 pom poms for each pillow to sew around the outer edge.

 

 

 

How I figured out the spacing of the pom poms.

To figure out the spacing between each pom pom, I just measured the 4 sides of the pillow and added the inches together to get the total inches.

My two pillows were 15 inches on every side so I needed to cover approximately 60 inches with pom poms.  Dividing 60 by 38 gave me a rough guideline for the spacing of 1.5 inches between each pom pom.

A corner of the pillow seemed the most logical place to start adding on the pom poms so I started on one corner and worked my way around the outer edge of the entire pillow, stitching on each pom pom one at a time.

 

 

 

After one pom pom was hand-stitched in place, I would then measure not from where it was stitched to the pillow trim, but from the outer edge of the pom pom to find the spacing for the next one.  I figured I would rather have slightly larger spacing between each one than the calculated 1.5 inches.  But knowing I would have a few extra pom poms leftover in the end was better than taking the chance of not having enough to finish both pillows.

 

 

I attached each pom pom around the outer edge of each pillow using a coordinating thread color found in my cross-stitch DMC thread stash.  It was fairly easy to loop the thread around the welt trim already on the pillow and then insert the needle and thread through the pom pom and around the welt trim several times before tying off the thread.

The actual hand-stitching of each pom pom took some time but I think the end result was worth it. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Did this project give me sore fingers by the time I was done?  Absolutely.  

But those little pom poms in their fun Spring colors just took these cute pillows to another level of decorating fun!

 

 

 

Pin For Later

 

So far my dogs haven’t paid much attention to the new pillows and the decorative pom poms but it is still early.  My goal is to make sure they survive past the Summer months and beyond. 

 

Now I would like to invite you to visit all of the other talented bloggers who participated in the Creative Craft Hop this month.

Next in line after my post on the list is Gail’s project for BHG Inspired Beaded Flowers.

 

How to Upgrade a Spring Wreath for Your Door

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A Bowl Full of Bunnies

Easy Update For A Cute Pillow With Pom Poms

BHG Inspired Beaded Flowers

3 D Flower Art Canvas

Easter Flatware Holders

How to Make a Chinoiserie Planter for a Handmade Topiary

Design Your Own Fabric

From Thrift Store Frame to Spring Wreath in 15 Minutes

 

 

 

Hugs,

Mark 16:15 He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.”