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First off, please excuse that really ugly golden tan wall. In a stupid and vain moment I almost didn't share these adorable Flour Sack Towel Euro Shams all because the color of my room is not my favorite. Basically my room is a constant work in progress and part of me didn't want to share any little project until the whole room is done.

Well, that could take years. I didn't want to wait that long to show you these Euro Shams. They are delightful. I love them and they were so easy to make. So I decided to stop being a cry baby pride bucket and just share this Flour Sack Towel Euro Shams DIY.

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I have wanted Euro Shams for awhile. I knew exactly what I wanted. I wanted a vintagey striped pillow. I wanted it white with blue stripes, because I love all things blue. Eh...but...uh...these pillows are red and white.

Yes, well do you see that sweet red lamp in the photo above. That is Hubby's lamp. When we first bought it on clearance we were going to spray paint it. As time went on Hubby decided he wanted it to stay red. I tried to convince him otherwise, but as he pointed out, he probably should get a say from time to time. Haha!

So due to the lamp, a pop of vintage red needed to be added to the room. I searched and searched for the shams I had envisioned. Alas, they were no where to be found.

So when you can't find what you are looking for, you make it baby.

When I found these 28x28 flour sack towels at JoAnn's, I knew I had my answer.
 
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Flour sack towels are inexpensive. They are perfectly vintage looking right out of the package. There are two in each pack, so I only had to buy two to make two shams.

Since I wanted my color to be muted and worn looking, I used regular craft acrylic paint. Normally you do not use acrylic paint on fabric without a fabric medium because when you wash it the color fades. Since I wanted my color faded I used acrylic.

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I taped of the lines I wanted. I started in the middle and measure out equal distances. I used a wide tape for the first white stripe. Then I taped of another smaller area for the small red stripe. Tape off two of the towels for the two pillow fronts.

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With cardboard beneath the towel, start painting with a foam brush. I roughly painted. Basically I didn't want to saturate the fabric. I let it look worn. Once you are done, wait a couple of minutes and then carefully peel back the tape. Allow to dry. Wash and dry each sham front. This will make the painted fabric softer and it will give it the faded worn look perfect for a vintage looking pillow.

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I chose to make my shams close with a zipper. You could also hand sew them closed. I used a 24" white zipper. First attach one side of the zipper to the front of one towel, with the zipper tab down.

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Then I did the same thing with the other side of the zipper and the back piece of the sham. After the zipper was attached to both sides, sew around the other edges of the towels (right sides facing) to create the pillow sham.

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Clip corners. Turn out the sham. Iron. Insert a euro sham insert. I got mine at Ross for really cheap.

I really love the pop of red and I love the look of these Flour Sack Towel Euro Shams. Thanks Hubby for insisting we keep the red lamp.

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