Are you enjoying the Shades of Grey Scrap Challenge so far?  We’ve already shown two amazing pillow designs that utilize the line fantastically, and get ready for a third.  That’s because today we are featuring Nicole Vos van Avezathe (@FollowBunny) of Follow the White Bunny, her wildly creative blog and embroidery pattern business.  Embroidery is Nicole’s main game, but she’s also a sewist and quilter with a great eye for color and design.

Today, Nicole’s bringing not only a great pillow design, but a fun back story for her creative process.  Enjoy!

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When I opened my scrap package, I instantly loved the Shades of Grey fabrics, all of them. But the Ragg Tagg is my absolute favourite; it reminds me of feathers. During my holiday in Wales (UK) this summer I visited an Owl centre. I even got to stroke some of the Owls — such sweet, soft creatures.

So Owls were the first birds that sprang to mind. But because Owls have been omnipresent in crafty land for the last couple of years I contemplated other birds (Marabou and Stork) before returning to the Owl. I also liked the idea of making a craft bag so I started to make a front panel of 2.5” strips of the different Shades of Grey fabrics (+ one other yellow organic fabric that was in the bag) and an appliqué Owl. In my mind the vertical strips are like trees or woods behind the Owl… The First Owl I made was a very retro sixties looking Owl. A bit abstract and Very Grey; the Grey didn’t work too well with the back ground of Shades of Grey fabrics I had made and my husband didn’t like the Owl.

So I threw the Very Grey Retro Owl out and made a Snow Owl out of white felt. That worked much better! I made a patchwork belly of tiny scraps of Shades of Grey and some other scraps I had and appliquéd it to the felt. I hand sewed the Owl on the background with a blanket stitch. I put a little bit of filling between fabric and felt to give my Owl more ‘body’. From the ‘Ragg Tagg’ fabric I made a wing and put a vintage button (formerly one of the eyes of Very Grey Retro Owl) on top. Eyes, beak and feet were embroidered on. At that point I still intended to make a bag. It was finished with upcycled lining (an old pillowcase) and all and it only needle handles. Sadly I didn’t receive the nice bamboo bag handles I had ordered in time and the handles I sourced locally were too small.

So on the eleventh hour I ruthlessly (and rather desperately) cut into the handle-less bag I had made, ‘rescued’ my Owl panel (including the vertical strips) and moved on to plan B (or by that time: plan Z): a pillow. When I sewed on the mustard yellow (or is it ‘Ochre’?) bit on the side, it looked kind of empty to me. Recently I came across an awesome book from the early seventies online, featuring lots and lots embroidered letter designs. This book inspired me to make the ‘retro’ letters on the Mustard coloured bit of the pillow. It’s a simple envelope style slightly rectangular pillow. For the back I used grey linen from my stash and I added an old white lace trim (it was exactly the right size) to the closing flap. I’m really pleased with the result and it looks awesome in my living room.

I really liked working with Shades of Grey. The fabric is soft but has a nice weight to it, making it perfect for stuff like bags and pillows. I have put some of the challenge’s ‘leftovers’ aside to use for a quilt for my living room as well. The ‘modest’ prints and the limited palette makes Shades of Grey super easy to combine with other colours and fabrics. I absolutely love the modern yet retro designs, very versatile. I’m certainly going to order some more, maybe I will make a Shades of Grey Marabou or Stork after all…