Rustic Winter Pillows you can Keep Around After the Holidays

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I don’t decorate with red very often, but what’s cozier at Christmas than black and red buffalo plaid?

We started sprucing up the RV for Christmas last week, around the same time our internet stopped working and our water pump broke. Good times.

We had to order a new wi-fi booster for the RV which meant we had limited internet for a couple of days while we waited for it to arrive from Amazon. At least with no internet, I had the perfect excuse to dive into projects.

I felt like our sofa could use some pops of red so I started rummaging through our RV to find something that would work. That’s when I came across the red and black buffalo plaid napkins we used for our Christmas tablescape last year.

If you’re looking for pillows to spruce up your home for the holidays, then I think you’ll love how easy these rustic winter pillows are to make! In fact, they may even be easier than the holiday placemat pillows I’ve created in the past. Plus if you’re a newsletter subscriber I’ve included the designs I used over on the freebies page.

DIY Rustic Winter Pillows

If you saw my post on the boho-inspired pillows I made last Spring, you’ll know that I’m not so handy with a sewing machine, in fact, I don’t own one. Back in Georgia, my mom was always volunteering to help with sewing projects, which was awesome, but now that she’s over a thousand miles away I turned to my no-sew alternative, Liquid Stitch. I’ve been using this stuff for 2 years now, and am just as obsessed as I was the first time I used it.

If you don’t have a Silhouette Machine you could print out your shapes, pin them to your fabric, and then cut around them.

Silhouette Machine
Vinyl (Or you can use the Silhouette Fabric Blade and Fusible Fabric Stabilizer)
Design Shapes for Pillows
Fabric (similar style here)
Iron
Pillow Covers
Pillow Inserts
Liquid Stitch
Detail Craft Brush

I paid roughly $6 for a two-pack of faux linen pillow covers a few months ago, and those are what I used for these winter pillows. They may not be the best quality, but I think they are pretty decent, especially for the price.

The first thing I did was iron out my rustic winter pillow covers and napkins. My mom made the buffalo plaid napkins for me last year with leftover fabric scraps, and I used two of those napkins for these pillows.

Afterward, I cut out the designs I wanted to use with my Silhouette machine. By the way, I LOVE my Portrait and Cameo machines! I used my Portrait for this project because the Cameo was below in storage and I didn’t need anything too big, but let me just say that every time I use my Silhouette Machine I feel like it’s magical and then I wonder why I don’t use it more often. If you love DIY projects and don’t have one, it may just be the thing to ask Santa for this year…

If you have a Silhouette machine, a Fabric Blade and Fusible Fabric Stabilizer then you can cut your designs out of the fabric you use. I don’t have the fabric blade or Fusible Fabric and read that using the normal blade for fabric could dull it. We’re currently about an hour from a craft store I decided to cut the shape out of vinyl, then stick it onto my fabric and cut around it.

If you don’t have a Silhouette Machine you could print out your shapes, pin them to your fabric, and then cut around them. Or you could print them onto label sheets and stick that onto the fabric to cut around.

I wanted pillows that would be warm and cozy for Christmas, but that I could use after the holidays too.

The first design I used was a bear silhouette, which is fitting for a cabin-inspired Christmas, yet classic enough to hang around afterward.

When it came to the second silhouette I decided to go with a Southwestern design. I’ve used this design in the past, including the rug I painted, and this Kilim-inspired pillow I also made with the Silhouette Machine.

Since we no longer have either of those items I thought this was the perfect opportunity to bring that design into our RV.

After I cut the shapes out with my Silhouette machine I stuck them onto the fabric and cut around them.

I wasn’t too concerned about them being perfect, and even liked the bit of fraying that was going on with my rustic winter pillows.

Once my fabric silhouettes were cut out I squeezed liquid stitch onto the back of the fabric, lightly smoothed it out with a small brush and then pressed it down onto the pillow cover.

Make sure you place cardboard inside your pillow so the glue doesn’t stick to the back of the pillow cover.

It takes about 30 minutes to fully dry and that’s it! Here are my two rustic winter pillows! I looooove how the buffalo plaid flannel looks with the flax linen, don’t you?