Hello Pneumatic Addict Furniture friends! I’m so happy to be back here. And today, I’m hoping all of you can help me make a design decision.
For my most recent project, I decided that I wanted to add a little flair to two large, navy pillow covers I recently purchased from Ikea. After months of searching for a navy pillow cover with a fun design on it, I decided I needed to do what we all know best, and DIY it!
But little did I know, this journey was going to be much harder than I anticipated…
I bought a herringbone stencil from Cutting Edge Stencil, read the instructions, watched the video, bought some white fabric paint and set off to painting
I secured the stencil (as much as you can to fabric) and painted light coats with a paintbrush. Learning #1: White fabric paint doesn’t work that well on dark colored fabric.
I peeked a few times, and could tell that it really wasn’t working that well at keeping crisp edges, but I guess I can’t expect the word from painting on fabric. This is what it looked like after.
Learning #2: Kayla and stencils do not get a long. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get nice, crisp edges. Instead the paint would continuously seep under the stencil and smudge all over the place.
But never one to give up, I powered through and stenciled the whole front of the pillow.
Then this happened. I had used brown “painters paper” as my husband calls it (he got it from work) to stop the paint from sticking to the back fabric of the pillow cover. Good idea, but Learning #3: Don’t leave the brown paper in the pillow case while the paint is drying. Take it out immediately.
So after picking all the paper off, this is how it turned out. I can’t decide if it looks OK, or if it looks terrible. I mean, I’m a perfectionist so the rugged lines and paint smears annoy me. I have two more of these pillow cases to stencil, but decided to photograph this one and ask all of you your opinion!
Because for some reason I’m still thinking about stenciling the other pillow because it doesn’t look too terrible from far away, or with other pillows in front of it. Ha!
I’ll likely put use these new pillow cases in our new Master Bedroom once we get the rest of our remodel project done and get to actually enjoy the room.
So what do you think? Should I stencil the other pillow covers or shouldn’t I?
Kayla, I think it looks good! I like that it isn't perfect, it gives it some character. I love it!
Thanks Rebecca! I'm starting to like that about it too. Thanks so much for your thoughts!
I have heard to use a spray adhesive on the back of the stencil when using it for fabric. I have some 3M brand kind. You spray the stencil, let it sit for 10ish minutes and it's gets all tacky. I haven't actually tried this myself though.
I think it has a kind of hand painted look, which I really like, BUT if you are trying to get a more opaque look you may try screen printing ink instead of paint. I bought a jar at Michael's once and really liked it.
I like it! The imperfections look like they were meant to be there! I have struggled with stencils and this problem too, I am glad you shared it Kayla!
I love these pillows. I will be featuring this tonight at my Winter Blues Wednesday party that opens at 8pm EST. Please stop by and pick up an I've Been Featured button. Thanks.