DIY Painted Pillows.

This was my first “sewing project” on my new sewing machine. I ordered about 2 yards of blue fabric from Joann’s for about $10. I really wanted to redo some of my sofa pillows and so I thought I’d try to pick out my own fabric and use the good old sewing machine.

Here they are:

My inspiration stemmed from the landscape photo seen above the sofa (taken by my talented brother, David Moodie). I kind of decided awhile ago I’d anchor the rest of the pieces in this room to that photo because I love it so much and it suits our families love for the mountains and being outside.

I also wanted to take a que from my wardrobe (hence the pokadots…I totally love, and would wear!). Sometimes I feel like I have more of a sense toward fashion than I do interior design so I thought my wardrobe taste would be a great place to get ideas from.

I didn’t do a perfect job at sewing the pillows, but it’s a start…

Here’s how I did it:

First, I “youtubed” a video on how to make an envelope pillow cover, and tried to follow the instructions to the best of my ability. But even before that I youtubed a bunch of videos on how to use my Janome sewing machine (wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be!).

For both of the images, I simply found them on bing images and printed them off my computer.

I then used reuseable carbon paper, and traced the image onto the pillow by placing the image on top of the carbon paper and outlining the design with a pen.

Then I painted the images with a fine paint brush, in a medium mixed with a 2:1 ratio of fabric medium and craft paint.

I just followed the fabric mediums instructions, and used low heat on the opposite side of the print to set it (I turned mine inside out). I washed the cover on delicate, with cold water, also inside out.

It was fun, it was easy, and somehow even a little therapeutic (at least when painting the repetitive circles). It brought me back to my younger years where I would draw circles over and over again on a sheet of paper and be perfectly content. A little weird, I know.

It’s neat seeing a little piece of you in everything you make. I think it can beat store-bought pillows, even though there are LOTS of cute throw pillows on the market.

Are you wanting to update your pillows? Any ideas for easy, and cheap methods?

Have an awesome day!

Amanda.