Hey guys! I've got a good three-fer for today - three ideas for one product! Tis' the season for quick and easy design swaps to get your homes ready for the holidays up ahead. I don't know about you, but I've been swooning over the hundreds of decorative pillows overwhelming Pinterest, Etsy, and my inbox of emails from West Elm, Pottery Barn, Anthropoligie Home, and the like. There are so many. So, so many. One could easily drop several hundred dollars on seasonal pillows alone!
A few months ago I swooped into IKEA for a quick stop and grabbed a few plain white GURLI pillows while I was there. I didn't quite know what I was going to do with them, but at $4/pillow, I figured something good would come from them. After an in-n-out trip to JoAnns, I had just what I needed, (for an additional $4 as all items were on sale), to dress up my plain white pillows!
IDEA 1: Block printing
Block printing is one of my favorite techniques. There are so many creative ways to use block printing - curtains, tea towels, (which I gave as Christmas gifts one year), chair cushions, aprons, stationary, napkins, lampshades, (which I did on our old bedside lamps), and as we'll see today, pillows! You can use any number of objects as your shape and then you just need a bottle of fabric paint.
For my first white pillow, I used a green pepper, cut straight across about two inches from the top. Squirt some fabric paint onto your paper plate or paint tray, stick the cut end of the pepper into the paint, and stamp it right onto the fabric!
When I was finished with the block printed pattern, I felt like my pillow needed a little something more. I dabbed my finger into some red fabric paint and made a few dots in the center of each stamp. Now it looks like flowers!
IDEA 2: Leather Cord
This next idea was inspired by a pillow I saw at Target by Nate Berkus, (the 'Decorative Braided Pillow', now discontinued). I bought the leather cord from JoAnns, (on sale for around $1), and then measured and cut the pieces I'd need for my design. I layed the two criss-crosses side by side and stitched the ends. That's all!
IDEA 3: Leather fringe
This last idea almost went in a different direction using chunky pom-pom trim instead. But, when I saw this camel leather fringe on sale at JoAnns, I couldn't resist and changed course right away! A simple, trimmed-out pillow is a great anchor to a long couch full of various patterns and textures. I used fabric glue for this idea and it has held up beautifully, but of course if you have a sewing machine that would work as well. I glued along the outer edge of the pillow, carefully lined up the leather fringe, and pressed down. Then I snipped off the end hanging over the edge of the pillow cover and started on the next side.
Here they are all together - three identical pillows dressed up three different ways! For $4/pillow and $4 total for supplies, I now have three new custom pillows for a total of $16! This was an easy project to tackle in a single afternoon while my little ones napped. Estimated project time: 60 min!
Thank you for stopping by!
