Good Natured: My Craft FAIL and Paint Your Own Pillow Cover DIY

So, this is an unplanned blog post. Maybe you're asking, "but, Dani, how do you not plan a DIY project?" Good question. And the answer involves an embarassing admission. I had a major craft FAIL. I mentioned in this post, that I was going to make my own (less profrane) version of this pillow. Well I did. And it turned out great. I was super proud of my new pillow. But, you know when you look at a particular word or two for a really long time, the words start to look funny. Well, I blame that for my craft fail: I spelled DIEM wrong, and I didn't even realize it until the pillow was sitting on my couch for a few days:

Awesome.

But I really wanted that pillow. So, I made another one, and decided to turn it into a tutorial for you guys. So, if you want to make your own pillow cover (and obviously, you can choose any phrase or words your little heart desires), this is what you'll need:

Supplies:
Fabric*
Print out of your chosen words
Scissors
Chalk or Erasable Fabric Marker
Pins
Tape Measure or Ruler
Permanent Fabric Marker
Permanent Fabric Paint
Paint brush
Cardboard and clips
Sewing machine

*My pillow cover is for a 15 inch square pillow, so my fabric is 15 x 36 inches. With this size, I have a half inch seam allowance for the width to make my pillow cover slightly smaller (14 inches wide) to make the pillow nice and full. The length of the fabric is not set in stone, but you want at least six inches more than double your pillow cover width. (So in this case I want 14 x 2 + 6 = 34. Since I had a yard of fabric, I just went with 36.)

Step 1: Cut out your letters. (Mine look funny because my printer is apparently low on ink...)

Step 2: Mark the center of your fabric for reference. Also mark where the top and bottom edge of your pillow will be. (So now I have marks at 11 inches, 18 inches, and 25 inches.)

Step 3: Using your reference marks, pin the letters onto your fabric. It's also a good idea to clip your fabric to your cardboard at this point, so you have a steady backing for pinning and keeping your letters straight. Um, it's also at this point that you want to double check your spelling *ahem*.

Step 4: Trace your letters with the permanent fabric marker. Then remove the paper.

Step 5: Paint your letters.

Step 6: After my letters were filled in, I used chalk to write out the handwritten letters, then the permanent fabric marker, then I made it bolder with paint. Let your paint dry completely--a few hours will probably suffice.

Step 7: Sew seams on the short ends of the fabric. I chose half inch seams.

Step 8: Place your cover right side up, and fold the ends as close to the top and bottom reference marks from step 2. These folds will overlap. Pin the sides together.