Have you tried fabric markers yet? I finally got around to it, and they work great. Paired with a stencil you can use them to stencil your favorite quote on a tea towel, apron, t-shirt, table runner, pillow cover, place mat, cloth napkin, old pair of blue jeans—anything you can think of!
Supplies:
fabric item you want to stencil on (this shop has some great linen pillow covers)
some cardboard
a pencil
a letter stencil (I have this one.)
a fabric marker (I loved my black Sharpie fabric marker!)
After choosing your quote, wrap your fabric over the cardboard to keep the marker from bleeding through and to keep the fabric stretched out smooth.
Use a pencil to stencil your quote onto the fabric. If you mess up the spacing you can erase the pencil lines and redo them. You can’t fix mistakes when you’re using the fabric marker, so don’t skip the pencil step.
Once you’ve penciled everything in, go at it with your fabric marker! I found it easiest to use the stencil for the outline of each letter, and then remove the stencil to fill the letters in.
The Sharpie fabric marker packaging didn’t say anything about heat setting the ink, but I will probably press my fabric before I wash it, just to be safe.
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Such an amazing tutorial! I can’t wait to try this one out. Your pillow looks amazing.
I love all your tutorials… this one turned out so well, too! thanks for sharing.
Great idea! And, yes! $159 is toooooo much for a pillow, and such a simple one too!
This is so fun!!!
looks sooo good :) want one too
perfect! this couldn’t be more spot on for me right now. i was just looking all over etsy for some new pillow covers and i love this style :) all of your tutorials are so lovely.
Such a great idea. The quote seems lovely too (what I can see of it!). Bless little Mabel – so cute :)
Emma x
That looks incredible! Thanks for sharing your process!
Also, have you done a home tour post in the past? If not I’m loving all the glimpses of your home in the background and would love to see more if you’re not adverse to sharing. :)
Well, I haven’t done an all-at-once home tour, just a room here and there. But I do have something special up my sleeve! ;)
That is such a great idea, and it is so simple too. I can’t wait to try it out myself.
This is such an amazing idea, yet so simple. I am definately going to add this to my decor.
I can’t wait to get home and try this!! Love this look but always find cushions so so over priced! Thanks :)
Great idea! Great implementation! Thank you for sharing!
I love how simple but effective this is. Thanks so much for sharing and inspiring!
I must say that your pillow looks much better. I might have to add this to my list of DIY projects
Brilliant! This looks so perfect.
Love this! I’ve been painting fabric a lot lately but never thought to write a quote. *head slap*
You’re brilliant!
This is such a great idea! I’m always on the lookout for unique pillows, but never thought of making my own with a fabric marker. Also, what kind of camera did you use to take these photos? I love the soft light and tones to all of your photos!
I love it! it’s so cute! I’ve been wanting to do a pillow cover for a while!!
http://munchtalk.blogspot.com/
dailydealsjc@gmail.com
What a great idea, I love it! And I would never pay that much (or anything close to that much) for a pillow! Thanks for the inspiration :)
This is great. I’ve actually been thinking of a way to do this and now I know :-) Adorable blog, I’m going to read more of it!
so simple, but so stunning! can’t wait to make one!
Hello!
I featured your awesome DIY on my blog yesterday :)
http://blog.shopdirtylaundry.com/posts/2012/1/17/99-too-cute-tuesday.html
ENJOY!
Wonderful and with so many possibilities! Thank you!
This is gorgeous! I love how it turned out and want to try this myself.
Oh I know what I am going to do while I’m snowed in!!! I just adore this pillow!
This is adorable! Can’t wait to try it out.
I love this idea! This pillow looks like it came from a high end store!
Love it! For sure adding this to my DIY board on pinterest. I really do think you have the best DIY stuff. I’ve made your recipes and done your crafts and you are good at what you do.
Well thanks Becky! :)
What a great DIY! Thanks for sharing – can’t wait to try it out!
Hi…LOVE your pillow so much I couldnt read the first few lines but I love what its saying could you tell me the whole thing reads..Thanks again for the awesome idea~Angela
Sure, it says “We are all a little weird and life’s a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love.” (The quote is by Dr. Seuss.)
Oooh.. this is AWESOME! I’m a new follower of your blog and I love it!
Nancy
alifedesigned.blogspot.com
This is a fabulous tutorial–I can think of so many quotes that would make good gifts.
i want to try this. What a great personalized gift! I’Ve used permanent marker on fabric andwashed it with no heat setting before but never can be to careful.
this is so fantastic! my husband and I’s song was Into the Mystic by Van Morrison and I would love to make a pillow that says “I wanna rock your gypsy soul”. that would make me really happy. Thanks!
just so you know, i’ve added it to my blog post (and pinterest page). http://ahappystitch.com/2012/01/21/valentine-ideas/
Oh my.. Thank you very much for sharing!
Pretty cool idea! Thanks for sharing!
this is fabulous!! i’m a huge fan of all things from that particular line but LOVE that you shared a tip on how to create our own!!!
can you share how you get the spacing between each letter and word correct? do you measure a space between each letter and word? what spacing did you use? that’s the part i’d be worried i’d screw up… :) thanks for sharing your insights!
I didn’t really have a special measuring technique, I just kind of eyed it. :) If you look closely there are a lot of words on my pillow that have messed up spacing, but I figure imperfections are the beauty of making something by hand! I just stenciled the letters on roughly with pencil first, and then as I went back and stenciled with the marker I made changes if necessary based on the pencil lines. Hopefully that helps!
I love this beautiful idea, and equally love your comment prompt. I’m definitely going to be a regular reader.
xx amyp
I love this and actually really love this quote. Can you tell me what size pillow cover you ordered?
Sure, it’s 20″ x 20″.
What a fantastic idea, thanks for sharing, it’d be lovely for personalised birthday gifts too.
this is a great idea! LOVE IT! love this blog. thank the heavens for ETSY, that’s how i found you. ;)
OMG! It’s amazing!
Great tutorial! I used to do something similar, but free-hand, with Sharpies onto my jeans. Over many washings, it did fade, but I never heat-set it either.
I have a question that will show my complete ignorance on all things crafty… what exactly is a pillow cover and where do I get one? Is it something I have to stuff and sew shut?
A pillow cover is like a pillow case but for throw pillows—you don’t sew it shut. You can buy a pillow form at most fabric stores for stuffing. I included a link to the shop where I bought my pillow cover above in the post.
I just love this tutorial and cant wait to try it myself!!! Thank you for sharing!!
This is fabulous! The quote AND the pillow. I love that it’s neutral, and way under $150!
This is gorgeous. I love words, books, and pillows.
I was just wondering do you buy a pillow case for a certain pillow or do you just make a pillow out of the pillow case itself? You could do either or I am guessing.
Putting quote on the pillows, what should I say, beyond my imagination. Simply great.