http://www.makeit-loveit.com/2010/03/decorate-my-home-part-13-pleated-pillow.html
http://www.makeit-loveit.com/2010/04/gathered-pillow-variation.html
This is what we've lived with for the past DECADE. I'm serious. Decorating is just not a big deal for me -- it usually has to mean something to me for me to put it up/out (or I have to really like it or be desperate).Here's what I came up with. They help. (Sorry the picture's not too great.)
I went to the Overstock.com outlet with my friend and found the pillows. I got two of the big ones for $5 total! They are filled with just standard pillow fill. The other two I got for $11, but they are feather! I couldn't believe my find. All four pillows for $16! OK, I had to buy some thread (I got the fabric for free from my Aunt Bonnie!).
The two lighter colored pillows are just plain, but if you enlarge the picture, you can see I made one of the red ones with gathers and the other with pleats/runners/tucks/whatever you want to call them. They look really nice!
The gathered one was the biggest pain -- all that adjusting! The pleated one was easier, but still took a lot of time. My 6-year-old helped me sew more than half the lines for the pleated one. He'd push the pedal while I'd guide the fabric. While we sewed he asked me to tell him stories about when I was a little girl and also kept asking me about the sewing machine and how it works. He really liked filling the bobbin and would say, "Mom! I want to bob it! Let me do it next time! Is it almost out because I want to do it." It was really cute!
I want to make one or two small pillows, too, with fabric flowers on them, but I'll get to that... later.
