Pillow Painting Party

I finally got up the nerve to try some fabric painting. I have sort of been mildly intrigued about painting curtains and I figured that a pillow is a WAY smaller cheaper alternative to try my hand at it. I had some scrap pieces of fabric as well so win/win all around for an experiment. WOOHOO!

I started with some leftover burlap from my table runner project. What is with my current obsession with burlap...or anything for that matter in the burlap-y family? Grain bags, feed sacks, jute, sisal.....L.O.V.E. Anywho, this was my last *sigh* piece of burlap and I couldn't find any use for it otherwise, so a pillow it would be. I started by measuring out my insert and likewise a corresponding cut of burlap. I am a fan of the pillow slip cover since I swap them out so frequently. I tend to make most of my pillows like an envelope.

The supplies for this project.

The "envelope effect" as I like to call it.

After hitting the the ole' Singer,  I sorted through my basket of stencils and selected a few that I thought might work. I ended up loving the little bird stencil I bought on a whim over the summer. Using black fabric paint and a stippling brush, I gently patted the brush over the stencil until I got an even coating. Burlap can be a pain because of how textured it is so I needed a heavy hand with the paint to get the application I was looking for. I let the paint set for one hour and then alakazaam......

In following the theme, I created a lumbar pillow for the living room using an old extremely worn loved white pillow case.

Combo of two separate stencils: Moorish Tile and Bird.

Finished product on extra soft cotton.

And because I like to beat a dead horse every now and then....I decided to mimic an idea I saw on Etsy. There have been a few posts putting house numbers on toss pillows. Since I was in need of some lighter colored pillows for one of our couches, I decided to try out the number look. For this I used one panel of cotton drapes I was no longer using.

Still in "drape" form while drying.

The two pillows finished.

I love how quirky they are!