A Cover for your Hay?

Even before we found a barn for our reception, my heart had fluttered over this photo:

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I’d never before seen bales of hay look so cozy and inviting.  When we looked at the barn that would become our reception site, about a third of it was occupied by hay bales stacked floor to ceiling.  The owners assured me it would be removed before the wedding, but I realized it gave me the perfect opportunity to use this idea.  I asked if they would leave a few bales to place around the perimeter of the barn, and they told me they would set up the hay however I liked.

Now it was time to come up with covers.

The way I see it, I have a few options.

• Buy a large bolt of fabric and cut out the covers.  I could leave the edges fraying, or I could seam up each side of the cover.  Of course, the former would be less time-consuming…

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• Search for pillowcases at thrift stores or on eBay.  Perhaps I would find some cute vintage patterns?  I would cut the open edge off the case, and sew it up the side.  If I wanted padding for it, I could stuff it with an old blanket.  I’m imagining something along these lines:

{image from instructions to turn a pillowcase into a cat bed}

• A sort of combination of the above two ideas – find old blankets in thrift stores and on eBay, and cut them to hay bale size.  I would still leave the edges frayed, and still look for fun patterns, and they would have built-in padding.  If I go this route, however, I will have to find blankets that aren’t stuffed like a comforter – they would have to be a single thick layer.  Or I could search for various throws, and have something like this:

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Which type of hay bale covers should I try?  Maybe I should test out all three theories and see which looks best?