Every year around this time I find myself getting anxious for the Holiday Season to begin. The truth is – it already has. Christmas décor is finding its way onto our shelves at almost every store. All my crafting buddies have been creating for a couple of weeks and I’ve already made dozens of ornaments.
We participate in several Fall and Christmas shows. It takes a few weeks of preparations to get ready. There’s the application process, the list of things we’ll need for setup, advertising, and inventory. Most of our shows are the last three months of the year, so guess what? This means we’ll need to offer some items made specifically for Christmas. Autumn barely happens in Florida. There’s no falling of the leaves, no changing colors, and no real change in the temperature. I’m not complaining, just telling you how it is. I don’t want to live anywhere else.
Basically, we just skip Fall and move straight to Christmas in the decorating realm. So, for this season of shows, I decided to offer more than my usual assortment of ornaments. Oh – don’t worry, I’ve made at least a hundred so far with more to come. I have added a few pillows to our usual inventory though and I’ll show how easy it is to make a custom, no-sew pillow.
The first thing I do is choose a graphic for my pillow. I generally use my own artwork because that’s what I sell. I’m going to use a Creative Fabrica graphic for this one to show you how easy it is to make a beautiful décor piece with your favorite CF image. I love this cardinal, but you choose whichever graphic you’ve been dying to create with.
Supplies You’ll Need
You’ll need a few supplies to make your no-sew pillow. I use the canvas blank that comes from Hobby Lobby.
They’re well-made and inexpensive. I chose a red ticking fabric for the panel behind the graphic and the graphic is applied to drop cloth fabric. Dropcloth is something you need in your workshop. It’s cheap, and you’ll use it over and over in dozens of projects. I buy mine at Ace Hardware because they send me a coupon in the mail. You’ll also need fabric hot glue and some heat transfer vinyl paper. It looks like this, and I order it from Amazon.
My goal is to buy a sublimation printer soon, but I haven’t gotten there yet. Now let’s get to crafting.
The Process
I’m using an 18”x18” pillow and I want my fabric panel to cover the face of the pillow with about a two-inch border all the way around. I use my rotary cutter to cut my red ticking stripe fabric in a square that is 17”x17”. I use my hot glue gun to apply fabric glue all around this panel, creating a hem of a half-inch on all four sides. That’s all finished, and you can put it aside.
If you’re like me, it’s taken you forever to choose your graphic. There are just so many to look at! I love the selection and all the ideas that come to mind as I’m scrolling. When you’re ready to print your graphic on the transfer paper, just make sure the image is reversed, especially if there are words involved. Print your image and cut it out as close to the picture as you can.
Prepare your drop cloth by trimming it to a size that fits nicely in the fabric panel you previously prepared. I use a piece of drop cloth that’s 13” square. I want a lot of the ticking fabric to show because it’s festive and pretty.
Now you’re ready to apply your graphic to the drop cloth. Just use your regular household iron. Your paper came with detailed instructions, so make sure you read them before you apply your graphic. It’s an easy process and I always get great results with this product.
I don’t bother gluing a hem in the top piece of my pillow because I want to fray the edges. To do that, I just pull a few strings from each side until I have an even amount of fraying on each side. I love this little detail.
Your two top pieces are ready to be attached at this point. Place the drop cloth with the graphic on top of your fabric panel and center it how you think it looks best. If you used ticking stripe fabric, it should be easy to eyeball the center without measuring. I glue one edge at a time, pressing down as the glue dries. I do this so the glue will flatten as it hardens.
Before I apply this piece to the pillow blank, I iron the blank to get all the creases out. These come folded and I want my pillow to look store-bought.
After my pillow blank is smooth and wrinkle-free I add the top to it the way I added the other two pieces to each other. One side at a time, pressing the glue flat as it dries.
There are a few options to stuff your pillow. You can buy a pillow form. I prefer this method when I’m using my pillows for my own home décor. That way I can reuse the pillow form and just store the case. It saves a lot of room. If you want to stuff your pillow you can pick up a bag of stuffing at your local Walmart or your favorite craft store. The best alternative though is to buy a cheap bed pillow from Walmart and use the stuffing. I usually have enough to stuff two pillows and it’s the same thing they sell in bags for a lot cheaper. You’re welcome.
Next time you’re looking for decorative pillows, don’t forget to check out the graphics here on Creative Fabrica, and don’t underestimate your ability to make your own! Happy Crafting!
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