Pillow Prints: The Designs

I hope you all had a great easter weekend. We had some really good time with our families this weekend, enjoying lots of fellowship, food, and egg hunts.  We were able to eat out on the back deck for one meal and it was so much fun. I love this weather!

Here are a few pillow prints I am working on now. I still need to sew them all up.  I'm just ordered the zippers on Friday.  Am waiting on them to get here.

I kept putting that off because I didn't know what kind to go with/where to get them for the best deal, etc.  I kinda freeze up when I don't know what decision to make...but I think I'm happy with the one I made.  I guess I'll find out this week!

Thanks to my hubs for helping me put my ideas to life in photoshop.  They would not look NEAR as good without him!

*The copper arrow pillow is actually a foil material. It is a really neat thing to work with. The print has a shiny/metal look to it. I'm really excited about that one!

Hope you all have a great day!

The First Print!!!

I am so excited to tell you all that the first ever Lonie Mae Pillow shop pillow has been printed=) I am more than pleased with the result.  They did a great job at Bigfish...like always.

I probably won't be sharing all of the prints with you right away but since this is the first and most exciting...I had to share!

My plan is to have 20 different designs up on my site by the end of this summer.  That might be a bit of a challenge, but I need a goal...and that is my goal=) The excitement of seeing ideas come to life is very motivating.  I can't wait to see how a few more go tomorrow.

Here's what it looks like.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

REST

Just wanted you to know that I am still here!  I have been super busy lately.  I'm trying to get everything turned in to Bigfish (the screenprinting shop I'm using) so I can get to sewing on my pillows.  It has been really hard for me to pick which designs I want to move forward with.  There are so many options!  My first set are scheduled to be printed by the end of this week, so I've been scrambling to get it all together!


I did make a little time to go outside and take in God's beauty.  It is so good to just be still sometimes and look around you...ya know!  I mean I didn't even know stuff started blooming already! It reminded me of this verse.

Matthew 6: 28

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?"

Among all the busy, and sometimes stressful or worrisome times...we can REST.  God always takes care of us.

I'm also helping with a friend's wedding.  It has been lots of fun. She and her family have the greatest taste. There will be lots of vintage, eclectic things there. We just finished putting up a canopy over the isle for the ceremony. Really fun!  I'm excited to share some pics as soon as I get some!

Oh, and I get to go on a girl trip to Chicago with my mom and two sisters right after the wedding. I'm so so so excited to spent some quality girl time with them!  We have been trying to plan the trip in between the craziness of it all!  We plan on going to Ikea... that's all I really need to say=)

The Crazy Fabric Store

I went to one of my favorite fabric stores in town the other day...FM.  It is so crazy every time I go in there.  The parking lot is usually packed and I have to park way far down the row...which is actually still really close because it's a tiny lot =)  Sometimes I wait for a close spot and then realize how dumb that is when I would only be gaining like 10 feet.  Ha.

Anyway, it's always so packed in there. It has been more and more lately too.  It's a really fun fabric store thought brimming with fabric wall to wall floor to ceiling. I kinda love organized messy.  It makes me feel at home.

They are really nice and helpful too.  I was in there for probably an hour and a half deciding exactly how much of each fabric to give me the least amount of waste per pillow.  Joanne helped me and I can't tell you how sweet she was. She made me way less stressed about it.  Thanks Joanne!  I'll be back and I hope you are there!

I picked these out for starters.  I'm SOOOO excited to get them printed!  I found one piece that I just love but they only had one little panel left.  I guess I'll have to have some get 'em while you can pillows.

More Color Decisions

I'm just about ready to send some designs for my pillows to the printer!  I'm so excited. I just have a few more decisions to make about color combos and inks. 

My plan is to send just a couple designs in and get sewing on those. I plan on having up to twenty total pillow designs. That's a lot of pillows...and a lot of decisions to make. I'm really excited about the designs that we're gonna have printed first.  I think they are going to be really fun! 

I had all this laid out on the floor yesterday and told Justin, "It's really happening!"  I am so giddy about it.  These are all the fabric swatches and ink samples that Bigfish let me take home. They have been so helpful!

Swatches and Inks

I've been having lots of fun with this stage of the pillow process...pairing up the ink colors that I want with fabrics I have chosen.  There are SOOOO many options though!  I love having options, but it makes the decision making a little tough.  I brought home the ink swatch book from bigfish, where I will be getting lots of my designs printed. I'm so excited!

Here's my swatch board.  And there are lots more inks to choose from than what you see here.

 Justin has been such a big help and encouragement through it all.  We now have 2 designs that we are for sure going with. We've probably made 10 but that's what you have to do to get the cream of the crop=)

Oh...I also got two more pillow form sizes in the mail, the last ones I was waiting on . Now I can get the designs to the printer!  I have lots more to do...but it's coming along!

Hope you all have a great weekend.  We get to host an engagement party at our house this weekend.  I'm honored that we get to.  I'll share some decor ideas with you next week=)

Pillow Progress

I've had a bit of a break in the planning for my pillow shop. I've been really busy lately with sewing jobs. I am so grateful for them but it's put the shop on the back burner.  I do things when I can though. I want to be able to work on it all the time, but life and bills are real=)

I finally figured out where the pillow forms are coming from... they are REALLY nice down inserts. They're the softest ones I've ever felt.  I'm really excited about finding the right ones.

I moved the wire shelving from our closet to my sewing space so I can organize all my products.  Here are some of the pillow forms I have and some new vintage inspired fabric I just got!

Swatches

I picked up these fabric swatches this past Friday for the new shop. I am going to be making pillows...and lots of them!  I'm so excited.  Justin and I are working on getting lots of fresh designs out.  He has been great with helping me and a really big encouragement.

Friday I felt like I accomplished lots. I have been doing lots of price shopping for items in bulk. Zippers, fabric, etc.  I actually made my mind up...which takes me a while...and ordered some pillow forms to see if they are what I'm going to go with.  I also did some research to see what I needed to do in terms of legally making my name my own. I bought my domain name and filled out a fictitious name form for the State of Missouri. I learned that if you have a business under any name under than your own name, you have to do that...in case any of you are looking to start a business=)


I'm learning lots and have LOTS to learn...but I'm getting excited to start building up inventory!