Make These Geometric Tasseled Pillows in Under 20 Minutes!

Kelly Bryden
Apr 05, 2014

Alright, guys, it’s time to revamp your standard DIY throw pillow. We’ve taken your classic square throw and added four more sides and eight more tassels! Oh, and guess what? You can make these pillows in under 20 minutes, tassels and all. We think these poofs are a must for your spring redecorating plans. Now, let’s get to making these Octagon Pillow Poufs, baby!


– fabric

– four spools of embroidery floss

– thread

– stuffing

Tools:

– sewing machine

– needle + pins

– scissors

– ruler

– pencil

Instructions:

1. Fold fabric in half and measure out a 21 x 21-inch square. Make marks at seven inches and 14 inches.

2. Draw diagonal lines to connect your marks and create an octagon. Cut out the octagon.

3. Time to make your tassels! Hold the embroidery floss in your hand and wrap around your four fingers. Once you have wrapped about half of the floss around your hand, slip the bundle off and wrap string around the top. Knot and cut off the extra string. Create eight tassels.

4. Pin the tassels in between the two layers of fabric. Make sure the area above the wrapping is hanging out of the side.

5. Sew seven sides of the pillow leaving one open for flipping and stuffing.

6. Turn the pillow right side out and start stuffing. Make sure you really get it in the corners!

7. Sew up the open edge with a needle and thread.

Okay, let’s make this thing!

Usually we would suggest using the fold of the fabric as one of the sides of the pillow (less sewing!) but in this case you are going to need all open sides to insert the tassels. Measure out a square that is divisible by three, we chose 21. Divide the height and width into threes by creating a mark at seven inches and 14 inches. Now draw diagonal lines to each mark and create an octagon. Finally, cut it out!

To make your first tassel, you are going to hold the embroidery floss in your hand and wrap it around your four fingers. Wrap about half of the floss around your hand, it should be quite a few strings (the denser the better). Remove the bundle from your hand and wrap extra string around the top. Cut and tie off the string at the top. You will want a total of eight tassels!

Time to pin those eight tassels in place. Position them in between layers so the top of the tassel is peeking out of the fabric.

It’s best to start sewing right before each tassel. We know it’s kind of annoying, but it will ensure the best results. This way all the tassels will be secure when you are stuffing and you won’t have to deal with hand sewing the tassel on. Make sure you only sew seven sides of the fabric.

Tip for making sharp turns: Anchor the needle in the fabric, lift the presser foot up, turn the fabric, and place the presser foot back down.

Turn the fabric right side out and start stuffing.

Really make sure the stuffing gets into the corners of the pillow.

Once all the stuffing is in place, use a needle and thread to sew up the open seam.

Stop right there. Look at that octagon pillow!

We created three and loved the look of them stacked on top of each other.

Try making different sized octagons. When first measuring out your square, we recommend sticking to measurements divisible by three (unless you’re a math whiz).

Turkey Temple totally approves! ;)

'The White Lotus' Characters Are Reading Some Insane Books — & Fans Think They're Major Easter Eggs

Many fans believe that Mike White, the mastermind behind the dark comedy-drama The White Lotus, is a genius. He created the gripping TV series, which follows privileged guests as they visit a new luxurious resort location each season and wind up caught in shocking (or even deadly) antics as their picture-perfect lives begin to unravel.

Season 3 is currently underway, but while seven episodes have been released thus far, it remains to be seen what characters will perish by the finale. Plenty of viewers have taken to social media to share their own theories, but some fans are calling attention to possible "Easter eggs," or hidden secret references, that have been right under our noses the whole time.

We're talking about the different books that numerous characters, from Victoria Ratliff to Chelsea and even Laurie, have been reading in the show. Perhaps the plots of each title are telling clues about their fates.

Scroll to see which books The White Lotusseason 3 characters are reading — and what that could mean!

HBO & Amazon

Victoria Ratliff

We simply must begin with Victoria, played by Parker Posey, who couldn't have picked a more fitting book to read: The Beautiful and the Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

The 1922 novel tells the story of a privileged couple named Patch and Gloria who revel in their extravagant 1920s New York lifestyle. However, as their fortune begins to fade, they struggle to adapt, and Patch is led down a path of depression and alcoholism.

In Season 3 of The White Lotus, the Ratliffs start as a wealthy Durham, North Carolina, family, but then Timothy finds out that he's facing financial ruin and possible jail time, which begins to undo his character. The parallels are uncanny.

Amazon & HBO

Belinda

As one of the only two returning characters from Season 2, viewers have been on the edge of their seats watching Belinda grapple with the whole Greg/Gary situation. Still, you might not have noticed that her character was reading the self-help book Surrounded by Narcissists: Or, How to Stop Other People's Egos Ruining Your Life by Thomas Erikson.

You can probably gather from the title that it delves into what drives narcissists and how to deal with them. Given Season 3's themes of spirituality, as well as Belinda's moral struggle over what to do about Greg/Gary, some speculate that perhaps her reading choice is foreshadowing a final showdown where she takes control.

HBO & Amazon

Lochlan Ratliff

Compared to his arguably obnoxious brother, Saxon Ratliff, Lochlan Ratliff, played by Sam Nivola, is a more subdued character. Even so, he was actually seen reading Hunger by Knut Hamsun, which has been called one of the most unsettling novels ever written.

This book follows a young man who wanders the world and is subjected to the silent judgment of others. Still, he continues exposing himself to the outside world, and his own thoughts become a form of self-inflicted torment.

The link between Lochlan and Hunger seems pretty straightforward. He and the protagonist are both searching for their identity, and since Lochlan is part of such a chaotic and critical family, it's understandable why he's struggling.

Amazon & HBO

Laurie

Laurie, played by Carrie Coon, also picked up an extremely appropriate title: Modern Lovers by Emma Straub. It mirrors Laurie's getaway with Jaclyn and Kate, following three lifelong friends as they navigate a summer of change.

In the book, the children of friends Elizabeth, Andrew, and Zoe come of age and entangle themselves in new relationships, which causes long-buried secrets and unresolved tensions to surface.

If Modern Lovers is any indication of what's to come in The White Lotus, it's safe to say that Laurie, Jaclyn, and Kate's bond won't be repaired by the season's end.

HBO & Amazon

Chelsea

Chelsea, played by Aimee Lou Wood, has actually been caught reading two different books this season, including Start Where You Are: A Guide to Compassionate Living by Pema Chodron and The Essential Rumi by Jalal Al-Din Rumi.

Both books revolve around themes of spirituality, self-reflection, and inner peace. The former offers self-help advice based on traditional Tibetan Buddhist teachings, while the latter is a collection of spiritual short stories.

The real question is, who is Chelsea seeking wisdom for? Is she on her own self-discovery journey, or is she trying to help her boyfriend, Rick? Only time will tell.

Amazon & HBO

Jaclyn Lemon

Last but not least, Jaclyn, portrayed by Michelle Monaghan, was spotted reading My Name Is Barbra by Barbra Streisand. In her memoir, Barbra reflects on the defining moments of her career and personal life.

This makes sense because Jaclyn is also an actress who's balancing a high-profile marriage to a fellow actor and confronting the realities of aging in the public eye. Still, it's unclear what My Name Is Barbra is hinting about Jaclyn's fate on The White Lotus, if anything.

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DIY The Ultimate Holiday Party Photo Backdrop

Holiday party season is almost upon us, and we could not be more ready for it! Sparkly dresses, fancy work parties, time spent with family and friends celebrating the end of the year? Count us in. Topping the charts of our favorite things about holiday parties are the creative backdrops we’ve been seeing popping up in our social feeds. That’s why we’ve teamed up with NBC’s Making It, a new reality DIY competition series, to bring you a holiday party photo backdrop tutorial that is sure to make jaws drop. Get ready to learn how to hand knit a super fabulous and classy backdrop decked out with colorful pom-poms and tassels!

Let’s get crafty!

Materials and Tools:

  • yarn
  • pom-pom maker
  • roving
  • cable ties
  • large needle
  • scissors
  • retail grid (not pictured)
  • 2×1-foot wood board (not pictured)

Instructions:

  1. Hand knit roving.
  2. Make pom-poms and tassels.
  3. Create garlands.
  4. Add roving to grid.
  5. Add pom-poms and tassels.

For our backdrop, we used a 4×7-foot retail grid, which you can find at most office supply stores.

HAND KNIT ROVING

Begin by wrapping the tail of the roving over your right hand with the working yarn tucked underneath your hand, creating a loop.

Holding the tail in your left hand, pull the working yarn through the loop with your right hand, creating a simple slipknot.

This creates the base stitch of your woven braid that you will continue to pull the working yarn through to create the rest of your stitches. Thread the working yarn through your stitch just enough to create a new loop and pull it tight with the tail.

This may seem daunting at first, but once you get the hang of it, it’s actually super fun and a task that we all fight over at the office!

Keep feeding your working yarn through and creating new loops until you have enough to cover your grid. We kept the grid handy as we worked to see how much we needed to make. You got this!

When you’ve reached a good length, cut the working yarn.

Feed the now cut working yarn through your last loop and pull it tight, creating a secure knot. Ta-da! Now on to your next yarn creation.

POM-POMS

If you haven’t used a pom-pom maker before, oh buddy, you are in for a treat! They make making pom-poms SO easy. To begin, make sure that both pieces of the maker are together. Pull out a pair of the arms on one side and wrap yarn around both arms until you’ve filled in the half moon shape, like above. Once it’s filled, snip the yarn and close the arms.

Repeat on the other set of arms, trim the end of the yarn and close the arms of the maker.

With all the arms closed, cut down the center of each side of the arms of the maker. You’re almost done!

Cut a separate piece of yarn and make a tight double knot through the center of the maker.

To free your new fringy friend, pull open both pairs of the arms and pull apart each side of the maker. Give your pom a little haircut to turn him into the perfect fuzzball or leave him shaggy for some extra texture. After you make a few more poms, you’ll be ready to make a garland.

Using your large needle, thread a long piece of yarn through the center of the pom-pom.

Thread the needle through your other pom-poms. Make a fun assortment of garlands in varying colors and lengths for your backdrop. Next up on the yarn decor front, tassels!

TASSELS

We are going to show you how to make three different types of tassels. The best thing about tassels is that once you have the basics, there are millions of ways you can jazz them up. Make ‘em chunky, make ‘em long, or make them teeny, tiny — they will all look cool in your backdrop.

First tassel, or you may call it a faux-tassel. Take an entire skein of yarn and wrap a separate piece of yarn tightly around it, about three inches from the top of the skein. Trim around the bottom of the tassel, creating a fringe-tastic look, while keeping the inside of the skein intact.

To make your next type of tassel, you’ll need to grab something flat, at least two feet long. You can really use anything — a plastic lid of a storage container, a wood block, or a piece of cardboard.

Pull the yarn off of the wood, keeping it in a large oval. Double knot a piece of yarn around the top of all the pieces of yarn. Pinch together the top of the yarn and wrap it with a separate piece to create the “neck” of the tassel. Trim the bottom and you are all set. You can make so many variations of this tassel, and that’s exactly what we did for our backdrop.

You can braid or twist the bottoms of the tassels. Try ‘em all out!

INSTALLATION

Start by weaving the knitted roving in and out of the grid. This does not need to be perfect by any means; just go with the flow!

We left some big loops and empty spaces to fill in in with roving that hasn’t been knit, pom-poms, and tassels.

To attach the tassels, thread the cable tie through the center of the top and secure it to the grid.

Look at the fun texture start to come together by weaving knit and un-knit roving through the grid.

Keep on adding pops of color until you cover your entire backdrop. Now you are all set to gear up for your party!

CHEERS to your super awesome new backdrop!

If you haven’t heard yet, make sure you stop by our annual Holiday House! While you’re there, head to Santa’s Workshop, sponsored by NBC’s Making It, where you can DIY and snap pics in front of this backdrop!

Show us your holiday party photo backdrops by tagging us on Instagram using the hashtag #iamcreative and #MakingIt.

This post was paid for by NBC.

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What Actually Happened To Natalia Grace Barnett?

The controversial adoption of Natalia Grace has continued to capture nationwide intrigue, particularly after Hulu's latest release of the crime drama Good American Family. And while the fictionalized version of the story is captivating, nothing made our collective jaws drop more than Natalia Grace Barnett's real story that unfolded in her documentary, The Curious Case of Natalia Grace. From her time with the Barnett family to navigating life with The Mans family as an adult, there's certainly a lot to unpack. Here's everything you need to know about how Natalia Grace is right now.

Scroll to find out everything you need to know about Natalia Grace right now.

What is 'Good American Family' about?

Hulu

Only four episodes of the dramatization, starring Ellen Pompeo as Kristine Barnett, Mark Duplass as Michael Barnett, and Imogen Faith Reid as Natalia Grace, have come out thus far, with the fifth being released on Wednesday, April 9.

It follows the Barnetts, a family from Indiana, who adopted Natalia Grace, a Ukrainian orphan with dwarfism, in 2010. Natalia, whose birth certificate said she was born in 2003, was thought to be about 6 years old at the time, but the Barnetts eventually accused her of lying about her age and terrorizing their family.

What happened with Natalia Grace and the Barnetts in real life?

Max

After adopting her, Kristine and Michael Barnett alleged that Natalia had traits that suggested she wasn't a child, such as adult teeth and body hair. Plus, Natalia was accused of standing at the end of Kristine and Michael's bed with a knife, trying to poison Kristine's coffee, and attempting to push Kristine into an electric fence.

So, in 2012, the Barnetts petitioned the court to have Natalia's birth date changed from 2003 to 1989. This made her legally 22 years old, and Natalia was put in her own Lafayette apartment. At the same time, the Barnett family cut contact with her and moved to Canada in order to pursue their biological son Jacob's education.

"I didn't understand why I was alone. I just knew I had this instinct in me to push and survive. All I was told was, 'You're 22 now. Whenever somebody asks you what your age is, you say you're 22 and you tried to murder your family.' I was taught to lie," Natalia told People earlier this year.

What happened with Natalia Grace and the Mans?

Max

Natalia befriended a neighbor, Cynthia Mans, after she began living alone as a child. Cynthia and her pastor husband, Antwon, had 10 children and ultimately invited Natalia to live with them.

The Mans then worked to obtain Natalia's guardianship, but this meant her prior age-change order would need to be vacated via more court petitions. Following DNA analyses and medical examinations, which reportedly proved Natalia was 22 years old at the time and, therefore, a child when the Barnetts moved to Canada, Natalia's birthdate was changed back to 2003, and in 2023, the Mans finally adopted her.

The same year, public interest in Natalia's adoption story skyrocketed due to the docuseries The Curious Case of Natalia Grace. She got a chance to speak out about the allegations against her during the series' second season, but by the end, Antwon and Cynthia Mans surprisingly echoed the concerns of Natalia's past adoptive parents, saying she'd become "the enemy of the house."

Season 3 of The Curious Case of Natalia Grace expanded on why Natalia wound up leaving the Mans family at the tail end of 2023. She accused them of being controlling, and a UK man she met online named Neil claimed they were financially exploiting her.

Natalia proceeded to leave Nashville, where the Mans family had relocated, and get on a plane with Nicole DePaul, a woman who'd tried to adopt her in 2009. Neil reportedly helped concoct the plan.

Is Natalia Grace still with the DePaul family?

Max

Today, Natalia lives in upstate New York with Nicole DePaul and her husband, Vince, who both have dwarfism. In an interview with People, Nicole detailed, "At first, it was bumpy because the Mans were still involved. They were calling Natalia constantly and trying to wheel her back in."

How is Natalia Grace now?

Max

She has been diagnosed with multiple conditions, including anxiety, PTSD, ADHD, and reactive attachment disorder. In January, Natalia was learning how to drive and studying for her GED with the goal of becoming a teacher. She also expressed her desire to get married and have kids.

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This Wild 'The White Lotus' Theory Actually Brings Back A Major Fan-Favorite: "Insane"

It's probably safe to say that most fans of The White Lotus were heartbroken over how Tanya McQuoid, played by the iconic Jennifer Coolidge (A Cinderella Story), met her end in Season 2. After delivering a riveting performance as an insecure and arguably unstable rich heiress, Jennifer's character was killed off, and no one saw the murder coming.

And now that Season 3 is underway, most people have understandably shrugged off the possibility that Tanya may make a comeback because, well, she's dead. However, fans online may have found a workaround for this problem.

Here's how some fans think Tanya could return for The White Lotusseason 3...

HBO

One TikTok user posted a shocking yet potentially plausible The White Lotustheory on their account @longmirelp. They call attention to the monitor lizard that keeps showing up in Belinda's storyline and suggest it could be the reincarnation of Tanya trying to protect her.

"The lizard is not random; it's not just some throwaway thing. It keeps popping up and following specifically Belinda," the TikToker said.

HBO

Remember, Belinda is one of the only two characters who returned from Season 2 for the series' latest season, along with Greg/Gary. It's also worth underscoring how both Belinda and Greg/Gary played critical roles in relation to Tanya's Season 2 storyline.

Then, following Tanya's tragic death, Natasha Rothwell reprises her role as Belinda and travels to Thailand for a wellness training exchange. It was during her tour of the latest The White Lotus hotel that she first saw a monitor lizard and got startled, to which her tour guide responded, "In time, the lizards will become your friend."

Later, Belinda calls her son, Zion, who will soon be arriving at the hotel, and during their conversation, she hears the trees rustling. She thought it could be snakes, but it actually could've been a lizard, given they're excellent climbers.

HBO

Another clue surfaced more recently after Belinda called Greg/Gary out for knowing Tanya, and he initially denied it. Following that interaction, Belinda was in her bedroom when, again, she heard rustling.

Pornchai, who'd previously given Belinda her tour when she encountered a lizard for the first time, proceeded to move a dresser and (shocker) reveal a lizard inside her bedroom. Is it just a coincidence that the camera then showed Belinda's laptop, and she'd been researching Tanya's murder the night prior? Some fans don't think so.

HBO

And even though Belinda is in Thailand for the wellness training exchange, it's no secret that she is a spiritual character. This has led many to speculate that Tanya's spirit might've been reincarnated as the lizard and is attempting to protect Belinda as she navigates the Greg/Gary situation.

Finally, since Tanya dreamt of being on an Asian mountain with a cyanide pill back in Season 2, fans think that could've been foreshadowing, and Tanya in lizard form may help Belinda in her showdown with Greg/Gary.

HBO

If this theory seems totally out there, we get it. But the first episode of Season 3 was entitled "Same spirits, new forms" — and prior to the season's premiere, HBO's EVP Francesca Orsi even noted it was "an exploration about spirituality versus the ego, and it's set against the Eastern religion."

HBO

The TikToker's video has amassed more than 884,000 views and over 64,000 likes, with plenty of commenters commending their detective work.

"This is actually the best fan theory I've ever seen. Even if it's wrong, it's insane," one user wrote.

"I'm gonna try, this is such an amazing take," echoed another.

What do you think about Tanya making a possible comeback as a lizard? Is it too out there, even for The White Lotus, or an idea that's worth considering?

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