What to do with Burlap Coffee Sacks?

I was skipping with joy back to my car after finding this authentic burlap coffee sack at an estate sale recently. I wasn't sure at the time just what I'd make of it, but I knew it had potential. The fact that I only paid 2 bucks for it didn't hamper my joy either.

Pottery Barn

The coffee sack had resided in my "to do" basket until the other day when flipping through a Pottery Barn magazine I saw these pillows. The description said they were "recalled from a whimsical look of vintage coffee sacks". While drooling over these pillows, I had an aw haa moment. I have a real vintage coffee sack, I thought to myself. So why not make pillows out of it?


Now, of course, you wouldn't want to make pillows from a coffee sack that you are going to lie your head on. Burlap is a little rough, but the pillows I've made are for purely decorative purposes.


So, I made this pillow...

And this one...

and this one.

Three pillows from one $2 coffee sack! And I still have burlap left over. If you have any ideas of what to do with my scraps, please let me know. I did buy a yard of burlap to use for the pillow backs. I bought pillow forms for inserts, and wood buttons for the oblong pillow.

Pottery Barn uses buttons made from coconuts for their pillow version, but coconut buttons were more expensive than the wood buttons I used. And I don't think there is much difference in the look for the price.

And speaking of pillows, here's a tip for you if you are interested in making your own pillows. If you want soft pliable pillows, you know, the kind that leave an indention when you karate chop them down the center, stuff your pillows with down or bamboo filler instead of polyester. Down and bamboo fillers can be more expensive than polyester, but places like Tuesday Morning and TJ Maxx sell down bed pillows rather inexpensively. So buy a pillow from either of those places and tear it open to stuff your decorative pillow.

But before you start hunting for a coffee sack, check out the other projects at Susan's Met. Monday, Cheri's Knock off Knock out, and DIY Day at Soft Place to Land. Click on their names to pay them a visit. You are going to love all the ideas!