The nursery in the DIY Blogger House was inspired by this fabric

by Patty Young.  (She is DELIGHTFUL.  I took a class from her last year at The Creative Connection and it was for sure one of the highlights of my trip.)  It’s Moorish Tile in white from her Andalucia collection for Michael Miller.

I picked up a bunch of awesome fabrics from Fabric.com.  (I’m not affiliated with them in anyway, just letting you know where I got my stuff.)  They have an awesome feature on their site where you can add fabrics to an inspiration board to see them all together before you make your purchase.  I built on the colors in the Moorish Tile fabric and came up with this:

I didn’t end up using all of the fabrics on the board, but it was my online version of stacking a million bolts in my cart before I make a final decision at my local fabric store. 

I made pillows out of the Michael Miller Ta Dot Lagoon and the Premier Prints Zig Zag Chartreuse, but I wanted something unique for the other pillow.  I decided to enlarge part of the design in the Moorish Tile pattern and paint a pillow.

Because I’m not that coordinated, I cut a freezer paper stencil.

Because I’m lazy, I used my CAMEO.

I showed you last week how to trace a design using your Silhouette.  That’s where I started.  I traced the image of the fabric, but then I had to make a couple of modifications.  My trace of the design looked like this:

That’s absolutely fine, but I wanted it cleaner and with less stuff around the edges.  I wanted to focus on the center part.  So, I made the trace bigger (click and drag on the corner) and rotated it the direction I wanted it to be (the green dot at the top of the design allows you to rotate).  Then I right clicked and selected “Release Compound Path”.

This makes the image a bunch of separate cuts and lets you delete the floater pieces that you don’t want.  I deleted all the floaters and was left with this:

Getting closer!  I opened my Eraser menu after that (over on the left, under the add text button) and erased the parts of the design that I didn’t want.

At this point I would recommend selecting the entire design and right clicking and then selecting “Group”.  This way your whole image sticks together and stays the same size.

Now I just needed to fill in the missing pieces.  I used the “Draw Freehand” option to do that.  It’s right above the add text button.  You can see it highlighted in the image above, but it’s tiny.

Draw in one of the missing lines.  It doesn’t have to be great.  Mine started out like this:

If you double click on the line you just drew, it will bring up the point editing menu.

It will allow you to maneuver the end points of the line you drew over onto the lines in the design as well as modify the curves.  Just play with it a little!  And, if you screw up, use the undo function and try again.  Once you’ve got it how you like it, select the whole design and right click and select “Group” again.

Repeat for the other 3 sides.

Nice, right?  I had a 14” pillow form, so I wanted this design as close to 12 X 12 as possible.  I stretched it all the way to the edges of the cut area.

To cut freezer paper with your Silhouette, put the shiny side up and reverse your image (if necessary…it wasn’t really necessary on this).  Choose the normal paper settings and then slow it down just a little.

I ironed the design to some white cotton duck that I had on hand and then filled it in with craft paint mixed with a textile medium (so it doesn’t get crispy or crack).  The paint colors I used were Granny Smith from Martha Stewart Crafts and Ocean Breeze from Craft Smart.  They were picked strictly for how well they matched the Moorish Tile.

And the finishing touch?  Some pom pom trim from our friends over at Pick Your Plum.

I kind of love it.

I bought the 2 bottles of craft paint for this project and our designer Brian provided me with the pillow form ($1.99 from IKEA) but I had everything else on hand.  I think this is a great inexpensive way to add a custom one-of-a-kind pillow to your space.

You’ve seen the fabulous pillows made from feed sacks all over the internet, right?  Pottery Barn had some made from coffee bags, even.  I love them, but I don’t happen to have an abundance of feed sacks sitting around.  OK, I don’t have any feed sacks sitting around and I don’t know where to get them either.  So, I came up with this project to satisfy my love of the feed sack.  Desperation is the mother of invention, right?  And, this tutorial *might* even be better than the real deal because you can totally personalize a faux sack.  What are the odds that you’d find an actual feed bag with your last name (or Santa or whatever) on it?  (Hint: none.)

(I went the Santa route, since I originally developed this project for the A Swell Noel series over at Positively Splendid, but this technique would work for any image/lettering.)

SUPPLIES:

Canvas drop cloth, from the paint section.  You can get a 6’ X 9’ one for around $10.  That’d make A LOT of pillows.
Contact paper, vinyl, or freezer paper.  I used contact paper because it’s cheap and can easily be fed through my Silhouette.
Silkscreen ink.  I like Simply Screen by Plaid.
Sandpaper

HOW TO:

Cut your design or lettering out of your contact paper (or vinyl or freezer paper).  I used a Santa silhouette from the Silhouette download store and then cut it with my Silhouette (on vinyl settings but slowed down to a speed of 5 and a depth of 7).  You could easily do this with a craft knife as well.

Apply the contact paper to your drop cloth.  I cut an 18” X 18” square because my pillow form was 18”.

I used that green scraper thing to get a good tight seal around the edges.

I like to stick the vinyl backing under my fabric to keep the ink from bleeding through and getting on my table.

Apply silkscreen ink with a sponge brush.

I like to use a scrap of contact paper to squirt the ink out onto.

Once the ink is dry, you can peel off the contact paper.

Then, take some sandpaper to your design.

Keep sanding until it looks old and worn and like it’s been part of the canvas forever.

Assemble your pillow (I made a simple envelope back).

And you’re done.

“Um, can’t you just wear something green from your closet?”

“No. I need you to make me one like for Valentine’s Day…with leaves on it.”

And since I’m a sucker…

I think I’m single handedly keeping the Tulip Soft Fabric Paint division in business.

Don’t even get me started on the part where I had to go to 2 stores this morning to find corned beef since it’s suddenly everyone’s favorite meal of the whole year.

I started with a basic zippered linen/cotton blend pillow cover from IKEA. It was $6. It’s really not worth making your own for that price, I promise.

Next, I printed off my basketball template (which you may remember from a freezer paper and bleach stenciled t-shirt last summer). I then folded the paper into fourths and ripped it along the fold lines. You could use scissors or some sort of paper cutter if the ripping bothers you.

I enlarged each fourth by 200% on my scanner/printer and taped them together.

I filled in any blank spots with a Sharpie, so it’d be easy to trace and then traced the pattern onto freezer paper. If you’re not familiar with freezer paper, go check out my freezer paper primer.

Get cozy with some sort of craft knife and cut out the basketball shape. Position your outer circle on your pillow cover and iron it in place.

I like the look of part of the ball hanging off. Do whatever you like! I also like to iron on junky old towels on my countertops instead of getting out the actual ironing board. Who’s lazy? Hint: me!

Cut out (if you haven’t already), position, and iron the rest of the pieces. I labeled mine, just in case (R1-R4 for the right half and L1-L4 for the left half).

After all the ironing was done, I put a piece of tape along the piping on the edge of the pillow cover because I didn’t want paint to get on the piping.

I filled in the shape using a foam brush and some Tulip Soft Fabric Paint. The color I used is Marine Blue. I let it dry for a bit and then peeled off the freezer paper.

(There’s a piece of freezer paper inside to prevent bleeding.)

I made one for the reading chair.

And another one for the bed.

You know the cheap “fabric” bins you can get to fit square bookshelves? Like these?

Image from ClosetMaid

You have some, right? Us too. We have a bunch in the playroom and some in kid closets and I think there are even a few in my sewing room.

They’re practical and they’re cheap. They’re also a *little* bit boring. And, my kids never remember what goes back in which bin. I bet your kids are smarter than mine though, right?

I saw this post over on Crafterhours yesterday and I felt my wheels turning! Keller’s new Utah Jazz inspired room doesn’t have a dresser…we’re using lockers instead. And in those lockers? “Fabric” bins.

I used some downloads from the Silhouette store for my clothing shapes…except for the underpants. I drew those on my own using the Silhouette Studio software.

I cut the shapes out of freezer paper and then stenciled using Tulip Soft Fabric Paint in Metallic Platinum. Check out my freezer paper primer for the basics on freezer paper stenciling.

Things you should do differently to stencil on this type of bins:
You’ll need to crank the heat on your iron way down to a wool setting at the very highest. I’d probably start even lower and then bump the temperature up a bit if the paper isn’t sticking. You’ll also want to place a press cloth or a scrap piece of fabric over the paper and the bin before ironing.

February Silhouette Promotion:

Valid February 23rd-28th

Silhouette SD
1 roll black premium vinyl
1 roll frosted vinyl
1 roll transfer paper
Home Décor CD

all for $225

Use code “CRAP” to take advantage of the deal.

Already have a machine?

Take 25% of Silhouette’s new Premium Vinyl using the same code (“CRAP”, in case you forgot. )

We had impetigo.

And puking.

Fun, right?

I took an insanely awesome photography class from the amazing Emilie of Photo by Emilie. We got to practice on real people. Scary!

More on that later.

I also hit up a fun little consignment store called Abode. More on that later, too.

We made some Valentine boxes. Keller went the safe route with this bucket he decorated with stickers.

(His shirt is some heat transfer and a robot design from Silhouette.)

Macy went the insane route with this little beauty:

And then she started puking, so *I* got to take it to school and present it to her teacher this morning.

My 2 big kids made these sucker moustache Valentines from Family Fun.

Campbell decorated his box at school, but he NEEDED a shirt. So, we busted out the freezer paper and the Silhouette and some of my new favorite product, Tulip Soft Fabric Paint.

Got any big plans? I mean, bigger than taking care of sick kids and doing laundry…

The color palette was once again inspired by the same Target table runner that I used to make my Valentine’s canvas.

I traced a heart template (that’s mine, but feel free to make your own) on some fusible web (Wonder Under, Heat n Bond, whatever you like) 16 times. That’s enough for each letter plus a spacer heart between BE and MINE. I fused it to the back of the pink houndstooth fabric following the manufacturers directions and then cut out all 16 hearts.

To put the lettering on the hearts, I cut freezer paper with my Silhouette (the font is Madfont). Remember if you cut freezer paper with your Silhouette that you’ll need to put the shiny side up and reverse your text. I also have to use the green mat, but your mats may still be more sticky than mine are.

Then I turned Macy loose with some Tulip Fabric Paint and a sponge brush.

You could also use iron on lettering or cut freezer paper by hand or even paint the letters on…whatever works for you!

Next, I fused each heart (again with the manufacturers directions) to a 7” square piece of backing fabric. I ripped mine, because I’m lazy. And then I stitched the hearts in place.

Macy put a matching 7” square on top and sewed 3 edges (leaving the tops open) using 1/4” seams.

Then we clipped the corners…

and turned right side out and pressed.

Once all 16 squares were finished, I laid them out in order to make sure everything looked good. Then I grabbed some extra wide double fold bias tape. Decide how long of a “tail” you’ll want for hanging and mark with a pin.

Start sewing (I zig zagged) at the end and go until you get to your pin.

Stick in one of your squares and keep on sewing.

And when you get to the end, stick in another square, and so on and so on and so on.

After the last square, keep sewing for an amount equal to the “tail” you left at the beginning.

And then hang it!