How to Make Personalized Decorative Pillows
Personalized pillows are fun when used as party favors, gifts and ways to customize a space. Beads, patches, trims and puff paint can be used to add details unique to the recipient or the use of the pillow to interesting textiles. Make square pillows featuring photographs of family members around a central monogram, or give grandparents pillows featuring their grandchildren's photographs. Use beads and charms to create fun fringe on a shaped pillow or add dimension to a square or roll pillow. Printed fabrics featuring a favorite sport or athletic team, name and number add ambiance to a game room or rec room. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Fabric
- Zippered covers or cases
- Fabric paint
- Puff paint
- Acrylic paint
- Tempera paint
- Stencils
- Paint brushes
- Glitter
- Beading cord
- Leather cord
- Yarn
- Needle
- Thread
- Beaded wire
- Bugle beads
- Seed beads
- Charms
- Photo transfer material
- Fabric stamps
Instructions
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Paint and Appliques
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Make appliques from textured fabrics such as velour to add dimension to the pillow while ensuring that the appliques lay flat. If you are decorating a premade pillow, opt for one with a zippered cover to make the addition of appliques easier.
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Test your paint on a small scrap of fabric or the inside of the zippered cover to ensure it will not bleed through the fabric and to determine its drying time. Fabric or puff paint will adhere to nearly every fabric type, while acrylics and tempera paint are better suited to simple cotton fabrics.
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Stencil your design onto the fabric and paint one color at a time, allowing full drying time between colors and coat applications. Most designs will require at least two coats of paint for the colors to remain vivid. Add glitter or use glittery paints for sparkle, and use glow-in-the-dark or blacklight-reactive paint as an extra touch.
Beads and Charms
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Create beaded fringe on a pillow using beading cord, leather or yarn. Affix the material to the pillow before adding each bead individually, or bead an entire strip and use a basting stitch to attach the fringe to the seams of the pillow. Follow a pattern with the beads or use an organic, freestyle method.
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Stitch individual beads or strings of beads onto the face of the pillow using a basting stitch for a loose connection or a forward stitch for a tighter hold. Create patterns such as stripes, polka dots, diamonds or flowers with beaded wire and cord using seed and bugle beads.
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Accent your bead patterns with metal, plastic or ceramic charms at the corners, edges or center of your pillow. Create a sparkly jeweled center for beaded or appliqué flowers or use charms at intersecting points in stripe and diamond patterns to spell out names or phrases.
Photographs and Monograms
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Use photograph transfer material to print or iron photographs onto a solid-colored fabric. Create a photo collage of friends or family members, or arrange clip art and symbols such as team mascots or band logos around pictures of friends. Make pillows for each attendant of a sleepover featuring a group photo surrounded by stencils or stamps of fun shapes and a frame painted on with sparkly paint.
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Monogram a pillow using a combination of techniques including beading, applique, photographs and paint. Attach letter charms for initials or spell out the name with paint or appliques. Mix and match patterned fabrics for a young girl's pillow, and used stenciled letters for a boy's pillow. For a family room pillow, focus on the last name in the center of the pillow and applique or attach charms of the family's initials.
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Frame the appliques with beaded cord or stitch beading around the monograms to add texture to the pillow. Customize each with charms to symbolize family member's favorite activities or hobbies.
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Tips & Warnings
Select fabric or fabrics for the pillow that will receive appliques well, such as a muslin or calico.
In addition to the items mentioned in the Things You'll Need list, when personalizing a pillow, you may also need hemming tape, a sewing machine, scissors, shears, embroidery floss, iron-on letters and numbers, rhinestones and crystals.
References
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Polka Dot/Getty Images
