How is everyone doing? Here we have been fortunate to have some amazingly warm weather and bright sun. Which of course makes my thoughts go to Spring. And then they go to switching up my throw pillows. So how about some throw pillows 101 to get you in that spring mood.

To coordinate throw pillows, the first step is to pick at least three fabrics.

1. A solid fabric
2. A pattern – pull your colours from this fabric. It can be a small, medium or large scale print
3. A graphic – small, medium or large scale print, should not be the same scale as #2.
4. If you go with a fourth fabric, it can be any of the above three but if patterned, the scale should be different from #2 and #3.

Then consider the fabric’s texture, linen, cotton, velvet, knitted, faux fur, embroidered, etc… as well as the size and shape of the pillows. Vary these to great effect.

I started with the floral as it had the colours I was looking for, including a neutral that works with the sofa fabric. Then I pulled colours from that fabric.

I chose a velvet in the background colour of this first pillow. The result is good as you can see above, but not as interesting as adding a third fabric.

I pulled out the yellow in the floral pattern, but did it in a graphic print. In this case the floral fabric is a medium scale and the yellow fabric is a large scale. I could have also gone with a small scale graphic print, something like a polka dot which I considered but this fabric was a better colour match to the floral pattern.

Then I made another smaller pillow in the floral pattern. And with that last pillow the sofa is done.

You can switch up the positioning of these pillows but I usually gravitate to putting the solid at the back and the prints in the front.

Hope this helps you to bring a little spring freshening up to a sofa near you.