How to Personalize a Pom Pom Pillow
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Personalize a pillow, dishtowels, and create fabric art easily with the assistance of your computer, printer, craft paint and this “old-school” image transfer method.
Last week I showed you how I added a little personality to the “hallway-of-darkness” by adding hand-painted signs to the doors. If you read the post then you know that I am no artist and to create the signs I used my computer and printer to assist me in making the signs look like French enamel.
Without these tools, I would have had a hard time making the signs.
Today I want to share with you that the same process I used to paint the signs can also be used on fabric.
Yes fabric, just think of all the items you could personalize not only for yourself but with the gift-giving season not too far away you could make personalized gifts by painting words, sayings, monograms, initials, or a child’s name on just about anything made of fabric.
Pillows are fun, but you could personalize dishtowels, napkins, aprons….and more.
Back in June I posted about the makeover of my guest room. For the bed, I made a lumbar pillow with pom-pom trim and the words… Be Our Guest.
I can’t take credit for the idea, only how to make a knock-off of it. :-) I originally saw the pillow in the above photo over on Grandin Road and loved it. I knew I had to make one for myself, but added big pom-poms as trim.
I had all the supplies in my craft stash and went in search of a font that looked close to the one on the pillow.
If you don’t have any decorative or pretty fonts on your computer yet, you can get hundreds for free. You can find out how in this post: How to Find and Download Free Fonts. I use Photoshop Elements to enlarge the fonts to the size I need, but you can also do this in any photo-editing software or Microsoft Word.
How to Create Large Lettering in Microsoft Word:
- Open a new blank document.
- Type out the words you want. If you have a saying, create a new blank document for each word.
- Highlight the word(s) with the cursor to change the font and type size to make them as large as you need for the size of your project.
- Print out on sheets of printer paper
If you have never done this, you may have to play around a little until you get the size lettering you want for your project. For my pillow and the words Be Our Guest, I made a document/file for each word.
This way I could make each word very large to fill a piece of printer paper. If your words need to be larger than a piece of printer paper, you can print out sections of letters super large and then tape the printed paper and parts of the letters together with tape.
I used white cotton duck fabric yardage and my sewing machine to make the pillow, but if you do not sew, you can buy ready-made pillow covers with zippers, here as well at places like Hobby Lobby.
Craft stores sell plain t-shirts, aprons, canvases and more that require no sewing skills.
How To Make a Personalized Pillow Using Fabric, Your Computer and Craft Paint
supplies needed:
- 2 – 14″ x 30″ pieces of fabric
- Thread
- Craft paint – Gloss Grey I didn’t have grey paint, but mixed white and black paint I had on hand to make grey paint.
- Fabric medium – sold in the paint section in craft stores
- Fine tapered-tipped paint brush
- Small mixing bowl and spoon or craft stick
- Computer printed sheets with words, sayings, or initials
- Painter’s tape
- Scissors
- Ruler
- Optional: Fine-tipped Sharpie in same color as paint
- Pom-poms and large eye-needle
I used the font: Introblues for the words, Be Our Guest. It is not a free font, but one that I paid for. I did tweak the font a little and have included a free printable of each of the words with my changes for you to print out and use.
Download words: Be | Our | Guest
- Figure out what size pillow you want.
2. Create the words, initials or saying you want on your computer and print out to the size you need.
3. There are many ways to transfer a printed image to another surface. When transferring words or images to wood, I use transfer paper, but that can smudge on fabric, so instead I go “old-school” and use the “window transfer method”.
To do this, tape the printouts together so they are spaced correctly to fit your pillow or project. Tape the printout on a window so the printed part of the paper is facing the window.
4. The light coming through the window allows you to easily see the outline of the words or image.
Using a pencil, trace the outline of the words using steady pressure. Once traced, remove printout from window.
5. Center the printout, face-up over the pillow cover or project. Use a ruler if necessary to make sure you have it centered. Use painter’s tape to secure the paper to the fabric.
Once secure, trace over the outline of each word. The pressure will transfer the graphite from the tracing you created on the back side of the paper.
Carefully pick up one end of the printout to make sure the graphite is transferring to the fabric, if not simply apply more pressure with the pencil as you trace over the letters.
6. When paper is removed you should see the outline on the fabric.
7. This step is optional, but I like to use a fine-tipped Sharpie to outline each word before painting.
It helps me to stay in the lines when painting. If using a paint color other than black or grey, match the Sharpie color to your paint color.
8. When painting on fabric, you need to add fabric medium to the paint. Follow the directions on the bottle’s label for how much to use.
Mix it well into the paint. Begin to fill in each word with the paint/fabric medium mixture. Let dry. If needed, go back and touch up and let dry.
9. Once paint is dry, stuff the pillow cover with batting.
10. Sew up the seam.
11. I made 12 yarn pom-poms for my pillow. To learn how to make one, go here: How to Make a Pom-Pom. I used a large needle to insert one end of pom-pom tie to the pillow cover…
…and tied it on using a square knot.
All done! A fun way to add your personality and style to your home or to give as gifts to all your family and friends.
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Brilliant way to DIY a personalized, classy pillow! To find very inexpensive, zippered plain pillow coverings go to Shein’s site and search for “toss pillow cases” — you will be amazed as page after page of pillow coverings appear — for $3.00 each! There are also some lumbar pillow cases for a little more. I ordered two plain standard-sized toss pillow forms from Amazon and then ordered cases for every holiday and season of the year. The cases come in a zippered plastic bag that makes them store flat and take up very little room. I change out the covers every few weeks for a new look. Now I am inspired by your article to order some plain cases and “monogram” them with paint for my grandsons’ beds!
Hi Dianne – It sounds like you are a decorative pillow pro. Thank you for sharing the Shein resource. I will check it out. Also so smart to use covers and so you don’t have to store pillows when they are not in season. :-)
Great project and perfect timing as I’m planning a guest room makeover. Thanks!
I love that pillow!! I also love your instructions. They are clear, concise, and so easy to follow. I have wanted to personalize pillows, dish towels, etc, for a while, and have used stencils, but I love this method so much more! I am not artistically talented, so I approach lettering with paint with trepidation. I think you have just given me a tool to combat that and I thank you!
The panels behind the bed….are they wood or canvas? I’m thinking of doing something similar in my daughter’s apartment behind her sofa. She has a lot of wall to fill.
Hi Delanie – So happy to hear that my post has given you the inspiration to create a personalized pillow. The color panels behind the bed are canvases. You can read how I made them in this post: https://bit.ly/3vghewe
Nice Post ! thanks for sharing post.
Great, thanks for sharing. I’ll try to apply it to plain white Turkish tea and guest towels. I think it will be easy to apply because the Turkish towel is napless and smooth.
I am really impressed by these pillow designs. Really Wonderful creations.
You are amazing and love this pillow thank you for showing us how to and sharing with us
Your pillow is adorable – full of whimsy! Now I have the urge to replicate your beautiful pillow! Thanks!!!!
This is perfect and It would make a great christmas presents too =)
Your pillow designs are such a great look and if any festival we can decorated with this type to our home.
The pillow looks stunning! You have great ideas, the whole room looks really comfortable and bright.
looks great!
I was very impressed that you did sew it shut.
You realize your pillow is actually way cuter than the Grandin Road one! I just saw it in my last sales mag.
Hi Patty – Thanks :-) Adding my own touches is why I love DIY so much. I can put my visions to life.
The pillow looks stunning! You have great ideas, the whole room looks really comfortable and bright.
Cute pillow. As a former typographer, I’m all about fonts…and finding ways to incorporate them into decor. :) You could also paint prior to seaming, thereby eliminating the need to protect the back. Also helpful to do the poly fill in separate insert so that, if for some reason you need to clean or change the cover, the inner piece remains intact and can be slid in/out fairly easily. Blind stitch a short end for access.
Hi Cam – Your tips are great… thank you so much for sharing them. I am not the best sewer. Straight lines are about all I can manage. To be safe I wanted to make sure I got the wording centered so I made the pillow first, but painting the letters first would save a step. :-)
Hi Diane!
So darn cute! Thanks for the tutorial : )
Love your quilt and sheets too. Where do you find them? This is certainly an inviting guest room.
Hi Dee – Thanks.
I got the sheets and feather motif quilt from Birch Lane. I have links to each at the bottom of this post: https://inmyownstyle.com/2017/06/decorating-room-makeover-before-and-after-reveals.html
The pink quilt at the end of the bed is from Target. In the kids bedding area.
Love it, Diane! You are always so clever. And your guest room is totally fun and so you. I’ve already pinned this to remember for later. TX!!!
Hi Diane – Thanks and double thanks for pinning. :-) I hope you are having an extraordinary Monday.
Very nice! Love the quilt on the bed, did you make it?
Hi Karen –
I didn’t make the quilt. Wish I had that talent and skill. :-) I got it on Birch Lane. I wrote all about the room and have a link to the quilt at the very end of this post: https://inmyownstyle.com/2017/06/decorating-room-makeover-before-and-after-reveals.html
The pink/orange quilt is from the kids bedding dept. at Target.
You must a long list of guests waiting to use your beautiful guest room! Thank you for the photos.
❤️ This!!!
Hi Laura – When I saw it in the Grandin Road catalog, I knew I could make it and make it more to my style by adding the pom-poms. Where are you going to be for Eclipse watching?