make your own polkadot pillow

Hello lovelies!

We’re back today with a fun little how-to for one of our fave elements in Emmy’s big gal room. Because sometimes, it’s the little things that can make a big impact. ;} (And with all these projects we’re about to share, we thought we would start small.)

This fun little pillow was a simple piece. It added a focal point amidst some fun patterns with it’s high contrast and a touch of gold sparkle for her bed. It was a simple afternoon project, and today I thought I’d share our little how-to with all of you!

I started out with Michael Miller’s Broadcloth in Navy, and two pieces of this fabric cut to the size I wanted my pillow to be, for the front + back.

Remember this tragedy? Wash. Your. Fabric.

Note: If you’ve never sewn a pillow before, you may want to give it a test run before you try… but always allow at least a 1/2 inch seam allowance on all your fabrics you plan to work with. This gives you enough space to work on each side with that sewing machine.

I designed a polkadot pattern in illustrator, and printed out multiple copies of it on 8 x 10 paper. You can get this very same pattern on our freebies page. {Just look for polkadot pattern.}

I laid each piece on my fabric just like I would a stencil, so I made sure I had the right size.

Starting on one side of my fabric, and working my way out: If you look closely, you can see where I took a pair of scissors and simply adjusted the paper as I went, layering the pieces so I could see where one dot ended and the other began. Tada! I had a consistent pattern.

Next, I rolled out the freezer paper, glossy side down. I made sure it covered my main area, and then used smaller pieces to finish up where I was missing any dots.

If you’ve never used freezer paper before for “poor man’s screen printing” you’re missing out. It’s one of my favorite little processes. You can see where we used them in the past here, here, here… we’ve done quite a few but this should give you a good idea. ;} If you have kids… it’s a must-do in our book. ;} The possibilities with this little trick under your sleeve are kinda endless.

I carefully traced each circle, keeping the paper flat as I went. As you can see, there were a few mess-ups, which are inevitable. I simply marked those “inaccurate curves” with a little x, so I could tell where to cut, later.

Using a self-healing matt and my X-Acto knife, I removed the freezer paper from it’s polkadot guide, and cut all the circles out. Remember, this is by hand. It doesn’t have to be perfect, and it won’t be. Just be as careful as possible while you cut.

Once they were all cut, I laid them back down, glossy side first and ironed the polkadots on to my fabric.

This might be my favorite, most versatile gold paint to date. I have other faves for other uses, but this has been a little gem in my crafting world. I recently used it for our clay tags and it’s just a great little dependable go-to. My fancy shmancy stencil brushes were leftovers from another project as well, but really, any brush will do.

After shaking my paint well, I began filling in each polkadot from the edges, in. The key here is to brush away from your edges, not towards them. At first it went on silvery, but I was able to fill it in completely with a second coat for that pretty golden sparkle.

I waited until it was dry, pulled it up and tada! golden polkadots. Notice how my edges aren’t perfect? I just went back with a smaller brush + a steady hand, and lightly touched up each edge that was really noticeable.