DIY Project: Burlap Sack Pillow (well, eventually)

S and I were wandering around the Towson Mall one day a few weeks ago and I coerced him into stopping by Anthropologie... which I was pleased to discover he enjoyed a little. Not only did we buy some sweet hooks for our bathroom, but we also saw some reclaimed burlap sack pillows that we both sort of adored. (Not really for comfort necessarily, but for looks of course.) I can't find any photos of them online, but they were super cool and unconscionably expensive at about $130 each.

My sewing skills are limited but I got a really nice Janome sewing machine as a wedding gift, so I embarked on a journey to find my own burlap sack to make my own pillow. After some scouting around, I ended up scoring this $5 gem from ebay:

Is this not infinitely more appropriate, both in cost and personal significance, than anything Anthropologie could offer? (For those of you who don't actually know us, S and I met as undergrads at Brown. And we are awesome.) Definitely my best ebay purchase ever.

Sewing is a family tradition that I'm hoping to do better at incorporating into my life, so I'm waiting for a rainy afternoon to spend recovering some old Ikea cushions that are feeling a little outdated. I'm excited for future days when we will actually have a living room, where our homemade burlap pillow will tell all of our guests how fantastic we are. I'm sure that will be reassuring to them.