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Thursday, February 24, 2011

DIY Painted Chevron Pillow

Hellooo blogdom! Guess what, guess what, guess what! The 'Crafty Girls' now have a brand new sewing machine! Ok, so it's not brand new. And it's not ours. (Sigh.) A friend from church is letting me borrow it to sew a cover for some rocking chair cushions. And instead of sewing those (scary and complicated) cushions, I've been procrastinating by sewing other (much simpler) pillows. Cut me some slack! I'm a newbie seamstress. I have to work up to them.. or something. When I acquired this beauty of a machine, I immediately knew what my first project was going to be. I have had these pillows planned for a while now, and I was a step away from sewing them by hand. Luckily, I didn't have to.

DIY painters tape chevron design pillow

Here it is. A DIY painted chevron throw pillow. NOT the one on the left. I can only dream that some day I will acquire the skills to pull something that intricate off. But for now, let's get back to reality. I've seen HGTV use this painters tape trick many times to pull off awesome designs on homeowners walls. Unfortunately, we are renting, and I don't want to make the effort to paint and then turn around and just repaint the walls. (Ugh. Renters - feel free to grumble with me for a minute.) The solution.. apply this technique to throw pillows!


The chevron design was not my original idea. Apparently, it is a very popular and trendy design. But that is great news for us crafters because it's a simple design that we can accomplish with a little bit of painters tape and some acrylic paint (my new crafty crush). How About Orange did a tutorial for making fabric prints with tape.

DIY painters tape chevron design pillow supplies

Here's What You Need:
  • Plain white fabric (I had some of this on hand).
  • A pillow form. I actually found it cheaper to buy an actual pillow at Goodwill and use it instead of a pillow form.
  • Acrylic paint (or fabric paint) of the color you want to use. I mixed this yellow with a light tan to produce more of a mustard yellow.
  • Foam brush
  • Painters tape
  • Scissors
  • Ruler 
  • Sewing Machine  
Fortunately, I already had all of the supplies in my stash except for the acrylic paint ($0.59 each at Jo-Ann) and the "pillow form" ($1 at Goodwill), so this project cost me a little over $2.00! Whoo hoo!
      
    Here's What You Do:

    Pillow cover 

    Sew your pillow cover. Usually I prefer to make pillow covers so that you can reuse the pillows inside. Since I used an ugly Goodwill pillow for my form, I opted to simply sew it up. (For my other pillow - later on in the post - I decided to do an envelope pillow cover because I used one of my good pillows as a form.)
      DIY painters tape chevron design pillow

      Next, use painters tape to create a design on your pillow cover. Here's where a normal person would use a ruler to make precise measurements. Apparently, I'm too good for rulers because I just eyeballed it. Why am I so imprecise with my crafts?

      DIY painters tape chevron pillow

      Paint away! I know this looks yuck-o, but don't worry - this isn't the final product! Do careful strokes perpendicular and with (not against) the edges of the painters tape. This is to avoid bleeding under the tape and therefore sloppy lines.Yuck. We don't like sloppy lines.

      DIY painters tape chevron design pillow

      Here is the finished product! With the inspiration pillow. Tristin found this pillow at Jo-Ann's, and I loved it so much that I bought one too! Yes, I copied her. I'm not ashamed because look how gorgeous and fun it is! I have been wanting to change up the color pallet for our living room since.. pretty much the moment I bought all those blue and brown pillows (silly me). Since then, it's been blue and brown and blue and brown. It has been so monochromatic and just plain... blah. I hate blah.

      DIY painters tape chevron design pillow

      I loved this painters tape idea so much that I wanted to do a second pillow right away! I wasn't as happy with it as I was with the chevron one, but it'll do. The design was supposed to be more of a border, but I did it too close to the center and the result was a "tic-tac-toe" look. Oh well. At least it's purple. I love purple. It's not a blueish purple like it appears in the picture, it's a warmer purple with more red and yellow hues. Ahh. Warmer, brighter colors make me feel so warm and fuzzy inside. I think we're well on our way to a brighter and more refreshing atmosphere in our living space. :)

      Think of all the awesome design ideas you could come up with using simple painters tape! OR use freezer paper or a fun stencil to make a cool pattern or a personalized monogram. What am I? Obsessed with stencils or something? (Yes.)
      Happy Painting! :)

      12 comments:

      1. I love the chevron pillow. Nice color!

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      2. Hi girls,

        Check out my post tomorrow if you get a chance, you are a part of it.

        Thanks,
        Heather

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      3. I absolutely love this! Great job - and it looks amazingly meticulous for not having used a ruler.

        xx Grace

        PS I added you to my blog roll today under "craft club." I love finding other crafty bloggers!

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      4. Love the phrase "crafty crush!" Agreed about the ruler, you are a good "eyeballer." :)

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      5. I am loving all your clever ideas here, and especially like these fun pillows! I would like to invite you to be a featured guest blogger at www.everydaymomideas.com. I think what your doing here is fantastic and I would love to help spread the word about your lovely blog. Just let me know if you are interested and I will get you scheduled.

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      6. Cool design, I am gonna try this out for my new bedroom, wish me luck!!!

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      7. Love this design! Do you pull the tape after the paint dries or while it's wet?

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      8. I have that other pillow, the rectangle one with the flowers!! Got it at JoAnn's haha :) Love the chevron pillow!! Will have to try it :)

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