« Word to Your Pillow Tutorial »

One of the things that I often get teased about is whenever anybody says simply "Word" or ends a sentence with "word" I have to add "...to your mother". What makes it worse than just an obviously dorky thing to say is that i have been informed that my voice while saying it is the wasp-iest voice ever. In fact, it absolutely irritates Russell, but while at first I had said it to give him a hard time, now it is a compulsion. I. Cannot. Help. Myself. Word to your mother.

Wanting a pillow in a chichi shop but not wanting to pay $50 for it I decided to make my own. Now, unfortunately I lost quite a few pictures from point A to point B so I'll pictorial this business as best I can. 

While it is not also included in this post, the red chair that my homemade chichi-ness sits on actually started out life as a plain old oak kitchen chair. Left behind by a neighbor that kind of pulled a move in the night thing, I watched this chair sit in their front yard for weeks. There was also a nice outdoor bench that I watched a neighbor walk off with which steeled my nerves. Finally, under the cover of darkness I convinced someone, who will remain anonymous, to snatch it for me.

The next day, looking for some red spray paint to fix this baby up, I kept asking "Does this look like a good spray paint to redo the chair you stole?" as loudly as I could.  I would like to say I am sorry, but I'm not. It was hilarious.

For this project you will need: 

• Fabric for pillow, polyfill & sewing machine - OR- pre-made pillow cover
• Craft paint + Fabric Medium
• Paint brush
• Sewing machine -OR- Fabric glue
• Water Soluble Fabric Pen
• Printed word/letters
• Freezer paper
• Spray Adhesive

First take your printed letters and attach them to the non-waxy side of freezer paper with spray adhesive. Iron the freezer paper to your felt and cut your letters out. You can use any method you please, but I have found this to give me the crispest, cleanest felt cut outs...

Lay your letters out on your fabric as you will attach them and trace approximately 1/4 inch around each letter. Mix your paint and fabric medium together (I used Aztec gold) and paint within your marks. Allow to dry fully.

Attach your letters on top of the painted letters. You can use fabric glue, hand sew or double sided interfacing if affixing to a pre-existing pillow cover, or for a quick attach sew on using your machine.

If you're creating your own pillowcase from fabric turn the pretty sides to one another and sew all but a few inches closed. Take scissors and cut angles at each of the excess fabric on the corners (without cutting the seam). Turn the case right side out and use a chopstick or other pointy item to push the corners out. Fill with polyfill and close that opening up by hand stitching. 

I apologize for no photos of this portion of the DIY. Please instead enjoy the only pic from that session that made it out alive... Miss Marla hanging out by my sewing machine. How convenient.

This project doesn't have to be just for a holiday pillow. You can use a name or word that means something to you for all of the year. Get out there and cover every pillow you have with a word! ...to your mother.

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