getting ready for an autumn outdoor dinner.
A month or so ago I was talking to some friends who were about to purchase land for their new home. In the excitement of their upcoming closing we decided we needed to have a party at their property.
My favorite part about our dinner was that every single person from both families put a piece of themselves into the end result…the actual evening of fun. The getting there together was part of the fun. Natali and I made pinboards and bought supplies. Natali and her mom, Carol, made the circle garlands and pillows with the girls and me. Emma and Miriam even sewed the garlands. Tomorrow you’ll see how everyone else pitched in and got excited about our magical evening. Seriously. It was awesome!!
Here are some of our preparations….
Circle garland:
First, we cut out three different sized circles with circle punchers in the fall colored paper that we purchased at Michael’s.
Next, we sewed each of the circles into a garland. For some of the garlands we sewed the circles right next to each other. For other garlands we would sew a grouping of circles and then pull the thread from the machine to allow for a lighter feel in the garland. Once we hung them up we really liked how the garlands with the tread pulled looked like they were suspended in the air.
Ribbon Pillows:
We loved the look of all mismatched chairs and went to garage sales and estate sales hunting down our favorites. We wanted to give them a more warm and comfortable feel as well as something that would bring them together. We decided on these ribbon pillows, inspired by a project my friend, Natali, had already started on…
The starting point was a simple muslin that we tea dyed (pretty easy stuff…get some black tea-50 bags-and steep them in boiling water, dip the washed fabric into the tea and let it soak for a short time for a light dye and 15 minutes for a deep dye…we soaked for 15 minutes…wash the fabric and dry it before using).
First cut the sizes of pillows that will fit comfortably into your chairs. We were thinking lower back pillows (I think there’s an official name for them but totally can’t think of it!) and so we kept them small. Cut a variety of ribbon (I got these super cute ribbons at Wal-mart!) to fit your pillow and straight pin them to the muslin. Sew a straight line down the middle of each ribbon to secure it to the muslin. (We didn’t worry about the color of thread we used since non-matching tread is part of the charm.)
Calico, print fabrics, and linen were our favorites for the backs of our pillows. With the ribbon side of the muslin down on the front side of the calico, print, or linen fabric we cut around the muslin to create a matching back to each pillow. Sew around three sides, turn it right side out, fill with stuffing, straight pin the opening closed. Sew the end closed with a straight seam on the sewing machine. (If you prefer not seeing the seam you can hand sew…we didn’t want to hand sew!)
Voila!
Dinner Napkins and Table Runner:
Gotta love Dollar Tree! We purchased our dinner napkins there…these are just dish towels that we decided would have a new life as dinner napkins. Love them!
At Wal-mart we bought the ‘light tan’ (Nacho Libre reference) ticking below on the right…I think it was three yards. We cut it in half so that we had two pieces that were 24″ x 108″. We washed them and they ended up with this lovely frayed edge that was perfect. No sewing required!
Thankful Belly Band:
I really wanted to wrap everything into Thanksgiving. (You’ve probably noticed I like coming up with fun ways to be grateful)
These belly bands are for our guests to write on. They can draw or list whatever they are thankful for and then read them later in the evening.
Download the belly bands here.
Stay tuned tomorrow for Part 2 of our Dinner in the Woods preparations….
Happiness,
Davina
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4 Comments
This was so amazing! It really was magical seeing everyone working together, having fun and watching it all come together! I am hooked!
Your family is so much fun. Not sure it’s possible to *not* have a good time with you!
I love your website! So many interesting and uplifting ideas. Thanks for sharing. I love the ‘Dinner in the woods’ idea.
How much fun….Have a happy Thanksgiving…Miss you all.
Mom
Thank you, Betsy! We need to do something like this the next time you visit! That would be super fun! Love you!