A lumbar pillow is the common term for just about any long and narrow bed pillow. It can be large or small, soft or firm. Though we've seen them in all shapes and sizes, we'd never seen one with ruffles and covered buttons, like the one we designed for our Fresh Linens guest bedroom. The deep pleat-like ruffles add a romantic touch and soften the geometric edges of the squares and points on the other pillows in our pile. That's the secret of an effective grouping of throw pillows: mix shapes and sizes and subtly blend textures and styles.

When I was a teenager, I figured out how to French braid my hair all by myself behind my head. For those of you who've never attempted this, it's a little like weaving linguini with a blindfold on. But, once mastered, the interlacing rows are quite stunning. So it is with our Braided Jelly Roll pillow. The braiding technique takes a bit of brain power to keep track of the strips, but the result is still... quite stunning. And, there are no bobby pins or hairspray required.

My grandmother, an immigrant from Lithuania, was an unbelievably talented seamstress. She did everything by hand, including free-hand embroidery, tatting, and crocheting. She never needed a pattern; you could just sketch something and she would create it. It was the sewing equivalent of the musician's 'hum a few bars.' Her vividly artistic creations seemed to flow from her fingers like water from a pitcher. In fact, as a young child, I thought everyone had handmade and hand-embroidered sheets and pillowcases and dresser cloths and curtains, and, and, and... I was shocked the first time I slept over at a friend's house and saw her sheets were (gasp!) plain white. My grandmother's influence is likely a big part of why I love the idea of antique linens, and why I steadfastly refuse to give up my dresser cloth.

One of the best ways to add both height and drama to your bed linens is with pillow shams. They sit in front and cover up the more ordinary pillows. Just like in real life... the pretty ones are always in the front row! There are two traditional shapes, regular and Euro. A regular full size sham usually measures around 20" x 26", a regular king approximately 20" x 36", whereas the Euro sham is square, usually about 26" x 26". Our Fresh Linens Euro Shams feature an easy yet elegant patchwork center made from a Charm Pack, plus a lovely flange in a coordinating solid.