DIY: Painted Pillows
The great thing about this is you can customize the colors much easier. Plus, I used colors I’d already been using on other projects, such as the colors used on my fabric wall panels and painted lamp base . To make the paint compatible with the fabric, I added textile medium to the paint. It really helps when painting the fabric, because it changes the texture of the paint, making it easier to brush on. I also recommend using a brush with stiffer (but not cheap) bristles so you don’t overpaint the fabric.
I probably wouldn’t call this an easy DIY, since I didn’t use stencils. I painted the designs freehand the designs but did draw them on the fabric with chalk first. Silly me didn’t plan it very well and sewed the pillow forms first. (Check out the simple sham instructions here.) To accommodate my lack of planning, I inserted wax paper into the sham, so the paint wouldn’t bleed through to the other side of the sham. You could also use cardboard; I was just too lazy to cut out the shapes so wax paper was a better choice. I had to paint several coats to get the opaqueness I wanted, so this is a project best suited for when you have a few minutes of spare time or while working on other projects, to allow each coat to dry.
Even with the textile medium making the paint more fluid, it still seems to leave the painted areas a bit stiff on the pillow. Considering that, I didn’t paint anything my face would be lying on or part of the pillow in which my face wouldn’t be exposed. All in all, it was a decent DIY project… and definitely creative.
Someone said this quote and i thought it could fit your blog “After you realize how perfect things are, you’ll tilt the head back and laugh at the sky.”
totally LOVE these! I’ve been fantasizing about painting and/or screenprinting pillows for a while, but just haven’t done it. NICE job on yours. I’ll keep that “fabric medium” part in mind. 🙂
Thanks for stopping by my blog!
Thank you for the blog love also! I’d love to try screenprinting sometime too. I’ve heard you could even use a sheer curtain panel in lieue of a screen, but haven’t attempted it yet. Definitely blog about it & share with us if you try!