White Ostritch Pillows of Prettiness

I’m sorry, but I’m about to show you something scary.  It is Halloween week after all.  Brace yourselves.  This is the couch we’ve been living with for several years now:

Lumpy, enormous, sagging in the middle, and “well-loved” as a friend once kindly described it.  Despite all appearances, it was also insanely uncomfortable. And sadly enough, this is her glamour shot, all primped and plumped for her Craigslist debut.

It’s funny because my mom has almost the exact same couch, and hers has held up beautifully and is fabulously comfy too.  I think we must have bought some cheap knock-off version. (I don’t know why I put a ‘before’ label on this picture, I had zero plans of making it over).

Anyway, I wasn’t a bit sad to discover that it was too huge to squeeze into our new living room when we moved.  Shopping time! We went on the hunt for some new sofas, and finally found a set I loved at store in downtown Phoenix:

I loved the color, the fabric, the shape of the arms, and the fat nailhead detail.  It’s also a down/foam blend, so it’s super comfy without getting lumpy.  Totally happy!

I just wasn’t digging the black damask pillows they came with.  I’ve never been a fan of the pillows that come with a couch, it’s kind of like pants that come with a pre-attached belt.  They never look that great, amIright?

Anyway, I’ve really wanted to try the look of leather pillows ever since my crazy pal Mandi went and skinned a couch.  (Sorry to disappoint you, but I didn’t skin a couch for my pillows).  Instead the kind people at Leather Hide Store offered me a swath of leather to play with, and so white ostrich-embossed pillows it was!

I would give you a tutorial here, but I am not a sewist, and pretty much just winged it (wung it? Wang it?  NO, that definitely does not sound right).  Anyway.  Mandi has a great tutorial over on her site. BUT, I will give you my three biggest tips for working with leather.

ONE: use needles made specifically for leather.  They are unsurprisingly called “leather sewing needles.”

TWO: Unless you are trying to make a flotation device, don’t make an 100% leather pillow.  Use something breathable on the backside.  My backing fabric here is a simple gray corduroy.

THREE: Leather doesn’t come in a nice neat rectangle like regular fabric.  My piece was shaped like Idaho.  You might have to patch some pieces together to get the sizes you need, but hey, I think that adds to the look anyway.

I didn’t realize my living room was so animal-kingdomy, but think the ostrich will fit in nicely with my zebra print rug and alligator embossed tray.

Goodbye light sucking pillows of darkness!

Hello light and bright!

(And yes, I do have a matchy-matchy living room.  That’s fine by me.  I also have a thing for symmetry. Whatever makes us happy, right?)

Check out Leather Hide Store for a huge selection of leather.  They are awesome to work with and will gladly send you free samples til your little leather-loving heart’s content!

>>Disclaimer: Leather Hide Store provided me with product for this post, all opinions are, as always, 100% my own.