Friday, March 25, 2011

Dear Urban Outfitters,

Is this what I was supposed to do with the recyclable shopping bag?
Because the bag did sort of feel like it was made out of fabric rather than paper. And I thought the "vision chart" font was kind of fun.
So, I cut the front and back, also known as pillow #2, apart and ironed the front. That's when I discovered that your cloth bag could not possibly be made entirely out of cotton scraps collected from the trash cans of corporate America because the polyester fibers melted a wee bit under the heat of my iron. No matter. I just trimmed up the front a little more than anticipated, added some good, old-fashioned muslin and sewed up an improv patchwork border.
I quilted the top, attached a zippered backing, and voila, I have my very own, genuine, Urban Outfitters accent pillow. And, all it cost me was the price of taking my sweet eldest shopping while she was home for Spring Break.
The icing on my pillow cake was when my daughter's friend Avery came over, saw, or rather zeroed in on, the pillow, recognized the font because, well Avery's been to Urban Outfitters quite a few times, and squealed, "Wow, that is such a cool Urban Outfitters pillow!"
Imagine my joy in responding," I made it myself."
So, thanks for the shopping bag. I hope I made you proud.

15 comments:

Lisa ONeill said...

Love the pillow - is that Urban Outfitters calling you??? How fast can you make them!

Siobhan Rogers said...

Very nice! again love the colour :)

Unknown said...

You certainly did recycle that bag. Bet they never would have guessed someone would use it in such a way.

Mary Keasler said...

That is one cool pillow. Great idea.

Ali said...

Ooh! Makes me want to do this with my "0% plastic" bag from Gap!

Jennifer said...

This is completely awesome! I love everything about it!

Jennifer :)

Rachel at Stitched in Color said...

Your quilting is always so inspiring! And, yes, what a cool pillow. That font and placement are very eye-catching. Your patchwork sets it off wonderfully.

Molly said...

I'll be looking at shopping bags a whole different way now :)

Katherine said...

Brilliant! Looks way better as your pillow than it ever could as the original bag. ;o)
I think you might start a trend with these.

Leslie said...

Very cool! Interesting too about the polyester. Hmm.

Corinne said...

I am intrigued by the zippered backing on your urban outfitters pillow...did you just insert the zipper down the middle of the back fabric, or is there another way that you prefer. I always just do the "double flap" technique on pillows that I make, but I know that there are other ways to enclose the pillow form and still allow removal of it for laundering of the pillow fabric itself...Thank you!!

colorquilter said...

I love your pillow!!! I have been cleaning my studio and i found a whole stash of bags from shops and quilts retreats. I think I know what to do with them now. Pillows anyone?

Stephie @ Narrative Self said...

Fantastic! Love the patchwork border too :)

Pippa said...

Love it! Frankly, it's way cooler than most items for sale at Urban Outfitters ;)

Chrystal said...

Love it! Very creative!