Tutorial - DIY Stenciled Pillows

The quest for new pillows continues! I know I said in my previous post that I did not recommend painting for my Chevron Pillow - and it was true for that particular project.

However, today I'm going to show you how to use acrylic paint to stencil a scalloped design onto fabric for some more pillow cases! For this project again, I only put the pattern on the front, but you can do it on as much of the fabric as you like!

I chose to stencil this project. I tried to create a foam stamp too, as suggested by many blogs/Pinterest , but I just could not get it to work for me. It looked terrible and would not stamp evenly!

Materials:

Plastic sheeting of some kind: I used a plastic folder from some kind of file folder thing I had laying around. Other ideas include old projector sheets, actual stencil material (found at Michael's or other craft store) or any kind of flat piece of plastic. You may try other materials, but for me, plastic worked best.

Acrylic craft paint of your choice & container for it 

(I got my paint on sale at Michaels for 29 cents! One bottle was enough for 2 pillow cover fronts.)

Foam brushes (either cheapo kinds like I used here or stenciling specific ones with flat ends)

Paper /cardboard etc. to protect your work surface - your paint WILL bleed through the fabric!

Paper towels (for cleaning off stencil in between uses)

Masking or painters tape

Scissors

Iron

1. Cut your stencil. I used scissors to cut my stencil out. I was not super precise, I just traced a half circle from a bowl I had on my table and filled in the smaller circle by hand. As you can see I left plenty of space around it to block any extra paint from getting on the fabric.

2. Make sure you protect your work space if you don't want and paint to seep through. I used craft paper to cover my space and then taped my material down on top. Tape your material down! It keeps it from sliding  all over and allows for more precise placement of your stencil.

3. Begin! Figure out where you want to start (I began at the top and worked down) and carefully place your stencil. Carefully dab your foam brush into the stencil - dragging strokes may cause the stencil to move out of place! Acrylic paint dries super fast, so you don't need to worry a lot about messing up the previous part, but do be mindful of wet spots!

4. Wipe excess paint off both sides of the stencil after each use. Otherwise you risk stray globs messing up your fabric!

5. Repeat until you have covered your whole surface! 

6. Allow paint to dry fully (leave it alone for a few hours, touch up where needed.

7. Once completely dry, use a scrap cloth as a barrier between the fabric and your iron, and gently iron on low heat over all painted surfaces to set the paint into the fabric. I ironed without a cloth and got some burn marks!

8. Sew your pillow cover together! (Or whatever else you are making with this tutorial!) here's a tutorial for the basic envelope style pillow cover like I did at Texas Cottage Blog

Ta daaa!! Paul the Cat approved.

Enjoy and thanks for reading!!