I am so excited to share this cuteness with you today! Have you seen the sneak peeks I’ve been giving on Instagram?
So as far as holiday decor goes, the inside of my house I decorate in wintery white neutrals mixed with LOTS of glitter and sparkle. I’m talking obscene amounts of glitter and sparkle. Hey, it’s the holidays, right? Tis the season! As much as I love all those decorations (and I do mean LOVE), I also crave a bit of color for the season too. So I transformed my little indoor porch into a rustic, woodsy winter wonderland with evergreens, pinecones, red berries, and this adorable new DIY Polar Bear Pillow Cover I made!
Move over trendy deer heads, there’s a new animal in town! I am LOVING this polar bear! When I first got the idea for this pillow cover, my initial thought was to use a deer silhouette. I’m pretty smitten with just about anything “deer” I come across right now! But I’ve seen some really cute furry polar bears at stores lately that swayed me this direction, and I’m so glad I went this route! A miniature stuffed polar bear paired with classic red and gray flannel = my favorite DIY Christmas decor to date!
Supplies:
red flannel fabric or a ready-made pillow cover
muslin fabric
coordinating thread
sewing needle
quilt batting
scissors
pencil
Instructions:
I started by picking up some red flannel fabric from Joann Fabric and sewing together an envelope pillow cover using this easy tutorial. I’ve you’ve never tried making your own pillow cover before and have even the most basic sewing skills, I highly recommend giving it a shot! It’s SUPER easy to do, I promise! But you can, of course, use an already-made pillow cover purchased from the store if you find one you like. Whatever floats your boat!
To create my little polar bear, I grabbed some muslin fabric I had leftover from my fabric rosette mistletoe ball and found a polar bear silhouette image on Google. I saved the image on my computer, added it to a new document in Microsoft Word, and resized it to the dimensions I wanted. For my 18″ pillow cover, I made the bear about 8″ long. I printed that cute little guy from the computer, cut around his silhouette, and traced him onto my muslin fabric. I needed two cut-outs of him, so instead of tracing and cutting twice, I just folded the muslin in half and cut around my traced lines once. I know, I’m always thinkin’! Momma likes a good shortcut. Here’s a great trick I found: Spray your muslin with a small amount of spray adhesive and wait a few seconds before folding it over to trace and cut. This creates a temporary bond between the fabric, which makes cutting those little furry bear legs MUCH easier!
Then I used my sewing machine to carefully stitch around the bear silhouette, leaving a small opening on the bear’s back to add some quilt batting. He only needs a little bit of stuffing to give him some poof, otherwise you’ll have a hard time getting him to lay flat on the pillow cover.
Once the bear was pleasantly plump with stuffing, I finished stitching him closed and hand-stitched him onto the center of the pillow cover. SO cute! I love the simple white silhouette against the red flannel, and I think the little bit of stuffing added to the polar bear makes him absolutely adorable. And since I chose something that isn’t overly Christmasy, I can leave this guy out all winter long! Woohoo!
I stuffed a pillow into my new cover and added it to the patio chairs in our newly-decorated porch. I am SO excited how this space turned out, and I cannot wait to show you the full reveal! As soon as my fingers thaw from trying to photograph everything on this freeeeezing cold day! 😉
So what do you think? Are you into the polar bear?
Check out these other Winter/Christmas inspirations:
Homemade Hot Chocolate Mix in a Jar
I absolutely LOVE this! So where do I place my order?? Pinning!
Isn’t he adorable?? I just love my little polar bear, Laura! So glad you agree! Thanks so much for the pin!
I love your pillow, perfect against the red plaid!
Thank you, Paula! I just couldn’t resist that red plaid when I spotted it in the store! Thanks for stopping by! 🙂
This is so sweet! LOVE the polar bear, my kids would love this too, a must make!
Thank you, Virginia! I was so excited that he turned out this cute! Love when projects turn out the way I picture them! So glad you could stop by 🙂
Oh my, he’s lovely. I love the way he’s a little bit plumped up and not flat.
Me too, Julie! That little bit of stuffing makes a difference! Thanks so much for stopping by!
Oh my goodness, this pillow is so beautiful!!!!! I LOVE the flannel and the polar bear looks perfect on it! Beautifully made, you are so creative!!! 🙂
You are too sweet, Maria! Thank you so much! I love how cute this pillow is for winter! So glad you could stop by 🙂
LOVE this so much! It looks so soft and cozy, and the polar bear is totally adorable. Thanks so much for sharing– have a wonderful weekend!
~Abby =)
Hi Abby! Thank you so much! I pretty smitten with how my little polar bear turned out. So glad you could stop by!
It’s Deonna from the Child at Heart blog! I love this post and would love for you to link up to the Merriest Blog Hop and share your creations! You have some great holiday posts and I would love for you to link them all up!
http://www.thechildatheartblog.com/2013/12/the-merriest-blog-hop-week-4.html
Hi Deonna! Thanks so much for stopping by, and I’m glad you enjoy my post! I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
So cute! I would love for you to join me at Check Me Out Saturday and share with my readers:
http://iamonly1woman.blogspot.com/2013/12/check-me-out-saturday-craft-link-party_13.html
Thanks so much! I’m so glad you stopped by! Have a wonderful weekend 🙂
I love your polar bear pillow. Love the plaid fabric too. Super duper cute. Great job. Love your blog too.
Thank you, Debbie! Isn’t that red plaid fun for the holidays? It really made my patio nice and cozy! So glad you could stop by!
What a beautiful pillow! I absolutely love the plaid print that you chose. I’d love if you’d link up to The DIY’ers – and don’t forget to enter my giveaway for a free chandelier! http://homecomingmn.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-diyers-42.html
Thank you so much, Kayla! I’m loving the plaid too!
THIS IS SO ADORABLE!!!! I love when i find a craft or home decor that steps outside the glittery frilly trend and takes things back to the classic age- all while keeping it ADORABLE! lol 🙂
Mandy
Small Fine Print
You are too sweet, Mandy! Thank you! I admit, I can get a little glittery from time to time, but I have a soft spot in my heart for simple, neutral, rustic beauty. Sometimes less is more! So glad you enjoyed the pillow! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
How incredibly cute Liz! Love him!
Thank you, Bonnie! I love this little cutie too! Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you have a very Merry Christmas, sweet friend!
That pillow is perfect! What an inspiring project! I want to go make some right now. I’d love for you to stop by this week’s link party and share this. Hope to see you there! http://www.thelifeofjenniferdawn.com/2013/12/a-little-bird-told-me-link-party-72.html
Thanks Jennifer! So glad you could stop by!
When I look at the date of the above comment, I notice I am ‘way behind the times’. But this pillow is just great. It is a perfect match for the one I made my grandson for Christmas this year – it had a black deer head on the red plaid but with a little bit of a frame. Will make one of these to match.
Like Betty above, I am also waaaay behind. I actually just found your site this morning, and I have loved going through all the posts. I have pinned away, and I’m a new follower. I have VERY similar taste in crafting, sewing, signs and DIY. I have also pinned several of your recipes. Just wanted to say a big Texas THANK YOU for sharing all your cute cute creations and tutorials. You rock!