DIY cowboy bandanna pillow (from an upcycled souvenir scarf!)

I fell in love with this vintage bandana as soon as I spotted it in the thrift shop! Amazing, bright, saturated colors, a retro cowboy theme (love that as a ranch girl), and it was a souvenir scarf. I love me some vintage souvenirs.

Seeing as I'm not fixin' to hold up a stagecoach any time soon, I don't have much use for a bandana. Somewhere along the line I decided to turn it into a throw pillow.

It had a couple of tiny holes I didn't notice until I got it out of the shop, but I would've bought it anyway. The first step was to patch the holes. I don't have a detail picture of this, but I like how it turned out. I used some of the red paisley print last seen here, cutting tiny squares just slightly larger than the holes. I also cut out fusible interfacing large enough for the entire bandana, which actually took two pieces. When I fused the interfacing to the bandana, I just made sure the fabric patches lined up exactly with the holes from the underside of the bandana. Then, I sewed around the holes, so they ended up looking kind of like a reverse applique. You can barely notice them on the finished pillow cover, but I think they look kind of cute in that worn cowboy bandana kind of way.

To finish things up, I cut two rectangles of muslin for a split back and did the edges in a bias tape. Sorry, I didn't take pics of the back; I was so enamored with the front. I don't remember what size pillow form this is,  but it's pretty big and a perfect fit.

The pillow ended up living in my son's bedroom because that's the only room with this color scheme. Plus, I actually think it goes quite well with the rest of the retro theme working in there, including the retro robots and some other 1950s-style cowboy stuff.

The quilt the pillow is sitting on was made for me as a baby, I should've shared pictures of the front of it too as it's quite sweet.

Does Google Chrome not know how to spell? Because it keeps wanting me stick a third "N" in bandana. I started worrying I spelled it wrong in the picture! I didn't, right?

This project is linked at:
House of Hepworths, Momnivore's Dilema, Somewhat Simple, Katie's Nesting Spot, Seven Thirty-Three, The 36th Avenue, Artsy Fartsy Mama, Sew Can Do, Craft O Maniac, Sumo Sweet Stuff, Making the World Cuter

Orange pomanders: an instant gratification craft

Or should I call it "instant craftification"?

Actually, making an orange pomander isn't technically an instant gratification craft, because you're supposed to let them dry out for as much as eight weeks in a paper bag before enjoying them. I don't know if the smell is supposed to get stronger after that, or what. Or maybe it's supposed to dry out better that way.

Either way, mine already smell great and look pretty cute too. I'm breaking the rules and letting mine dry out in the open; that's how I roll, yo!

Different variations of the pomander have been around since at least the Middle Ages, as they apparently came in handy for disguising body stank. Modern orange pomanders are basically oranges with some cloves stabbed in them. I decided to title this post "instant gratification" for that reason; no stitching, no gluing, no planning, cutting, painting. Just a gal and her produce. And spices. (Although all that stabbing can be time consuming; I did these three over the span of three evenings.)

Most orange pomander instructions have you start out by decorating your citrus with yarn, or whatever you feel like. Then they have you stab holes with a knitting needle. I was not going to wreck any needles for this, so I used a shish-ka-bob skewer, and it worked very well... until I realized I didn't need to pre-poke the holes. The cloves stabbed in quite easily on their own!

Many instructions have you either drop your completed pomander in a paper bag with some spices and shake it around to coat; I thought mine was too delicate. You can also roll yours around in a spice mixture, and I tried this (I used pumpkin pie spice) for my first one, but thought it looked "dirty". So the next two don't have any additional spices.

Finally, I read at least one recommendation to finish the pomander off with a preserving essential oil, like sandalwood; I skipped this as well, so mine ended up being basically some oranges with fabric tied around them and cloves stabbed in them. Easy-peasy! Or easy-orangey?

Have you made pomanders before? I totally recommend this festive and easy craft!