DIY Graphic Pillow-With or Without a Sewing Machine

I’ve always wanted to visit the Greece that Mary shares on her blog, haven’t you? The color of the sky and ocean is bluer than I’ve ever seen; and having the option of dipping my toes in the water while listening to the waves, or taking a drive up into the mountains, is so cool!

Use this pillow all year round or as holiday decor. Mary loves her holidays, gathering her family together to enjoy the celebrations. I’m right there with her. Is there anything better than decorating for the holidays, anticipating the time spent with those you love?

I think not! 

Today we’re going to create a DIY Graphic Pillow, quickly and easily. Add it to your holiday decor or give it as a gift. (Another thing Mary loves-checking things off her Christmas gift list early, I wish I was as organized!)

• freezer paper
• copy of graphic (8.5 x 11 for bolster or 11 x 17 for larger pillow)
• X-acto stencil knife with a sharp blade
• tape (masking or painters tape work well)
• Tulip Fabric Crayons (come in a 2 pack, white and black)
• Thread (match your fabric or use white thread)
• Sewing Scissors
• Iron
• Poly-fill stuffing-16 oz. bag

To make 2 bolster pillows cut your fabric in half so you now have 2 sets of fabric 18 inches wide and 11.25 inches tall. Each set will have a front and back piece.

Tear off 2 sheets of freezer paper, a bit larger than your graphic, lay them on top of each other with the shiny side down. This is a simple way to cut 2 stencils at the same time.
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Lay your freezer paper on a hard surface, I use a piece of plywood. Then secure it with tape after centering. 

Make sure that your exacto knife has a sharp blade, you’re cutting through 3 layers of paper. Clear crisp cut lines create a gorgeous graphic stencil. 

Lay your stencil on top of the fabric, squaring it to ensure that your graphic is perfectly aligned. Having a crooked graphic can ruin your day. Not that I’ve done it, at least not more than once a few times.
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Add the pieces into the G, a and e. Iron over the stencil. Make sure that the edges of the graphic are adhered well so the fabric crayon won’t seep under the edges, ruining your nice crisp lines. 

See the wrinkles in the paper below? This is how the freezer paper looks after it’s ironed on. Start ironing on the outside of the stencil, test the heat, adjust as needed. Then iron over the entire graphic. 
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Finish coloring the entire stencil. 

(As you can see I am using this stencil the second time to create another graphic pillow. If you’re on my Christmas list forget you saw this! LOL) 

One thing I love about freezer paper stencils, you can use them over and over. By cutting 2 stencils at once you can create 6 graphics, or pillow fronts. Yippee! ​

​To ensure the sharpness of the graphic color and smudge it twice. Then carefully remove your stencil-so you can use it again. 

Let dry for at least 24 hours, before ironing, to set the paint. If it’s not dry the crayon will smudge across your fabric. 

Lay a pressing cloth over the graphic and iron on high heat to set. 

If using a sewing machine stitch 1/2 inch seam, leaving the ends open-as pictured above. Then zigzag stitch to finish the edges.

To hand sew, stitch the outer seams by hand, leaving the opening as above. Sew your stitches close together with the thread doubled for a stronger seam. You may want to stitch the seam twice for durability. 

Turn the pillowcase inside out, use a chopstick (or another pointed tool-knitting needle etc.) to push the corners out, for a nice square edge. 

Stuff the pillow, beginning with the corners at the bottom, fill them out nicely and then work your way to the top of the pillow. Push stuffing into the other 2 corners, then the middle area. 
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(For directions on how to properly stuff a pillow click here.)

Once you have the pillowcase filled, push the stuffing down a bit near the open seam. Fold over the edges of the fabric and pin together. 

In order to keep the seam flat, so you can stitch it, add another row of pins about an inch above the seam line. 

Then machine stitch 1/2 inch from the edge, or hand stitch the opening with a Hidden Stitch.​

I love how the graphic looks on the printed fabric and really love that it costs about $10 to make both!

Cost:

• Fabric-half yard-$2.44
• Stuffing-16 oz. bag-$3.50
• Paint Crayons-pack of 2-$3.99 
• Copy of graphic $.20

You could cross almost everyone off your Christmas list and make a few for yourself. Everyone needs a few gorgeous throw pillows, right? 

(Click here for a download of this exact graphic to make your own “Gather” graphic pillow.)

​Wow that was such a fun post.  And I love that I don’t need to use any special machines to get this great look.  Nikki knows me well, she knows that these fancy machines are not in my budget. In fact I have bought pillow from Nikki’s shop, you can see them here. 

Thank you Nikki for joining me here today with your very well written tutorial on how to make a DIY Graphic Pillow, with or without a sewing machine. Now I’ll have to go looking through my stash to find some pretty fabric so I can make one too. 

To see lots more pillows and pretty projects hop on over to Nikki’s blog View from In Here. 

Linking up to these Link Parties

This blog is for entertainment purposes only; my DIY tutorials are not professional advice. Read my full disclaimer here.​

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