Mad for Plaid Pillows

Is anyone else as mad for plaid as I am right now? Maybe its the nostalgia of my youth, but I couldn’t be more excited that this fabulous pattern is back in style. In fact, I decided to decorate my home’s seasonal decor using plaid as one of the underlying themes. Plaid is perfect for both Thanksgiving and Christmas, which means the decorations last longer. Today is the beginning of a home decor trend, as I share holiday DIYs on the blog over the next few months, decorating my home as we go.

Mad for Plaid – with free image downloads

To start, let’s talk about the basics of any super duper easy pillow. There are lots of ways to make a pillow, one of my favorites being the envelope back. But for sake of ease for this mass pillow tutorial – we will stick with the super basic.

To make a basic pillow (All Plaid Pillow):

1. Cut (2) fabric squares, 1″ larger than your pillow form.
2. Sew pillow squares right sides together using a 1/2″ seam allowance, leaving a 5″ opening along one seam.
3. Turn right side out and slip pillow inside.
4. Whipstitch opening closed.

All of the pillows in this post use this basic construction.

 

Deer Pillow:

This pillow uses freezer paper stenciling to get the black and white deer image on a basic pillow.

Right click on the image below and save it to your computer, then print the image out in your desired size. Lay a piece of freezer paper over your deer image (shiny side down), and trace around it with a pen or pencil.

1.  Using an Xacto knife on a cutting mat, cut around the deer design carefully on your freezer paper. Remove freezer paper where you want the paint to be.
2. Iron the freezer paper image directly onto the right side of (1) pillow square. The shiny side of the freezer paper should be directly against the pillow when ironing. This will cause the freezer paper to stick to your pillow. Using fabric paint and a sponge brush, place your pillow on top of tin foil or other paint safe object, and gently paint on top of your freezer paper image.
3. Once dry, simply peel up the freezer paper and you are left with your design! I sewed on a small plaid bow tie to the deer’s neck for added embellishment.
4. Place (2) pillow squares right sides together, and sew around all 4 edges leaving an opening for turning.
5. Turn right side out, pushing out all corner edges. Slip pillow form in side, and pin opening closed. Whipstitch.
6. And you are finished!

 

Plaid Scarf Pillow:

 

Have a basic pillow lying around that could use an instant Autumn / Winter update? Grab a plaid scarf and tie it around!  This is so easy, even your little one can do it (providing they can tie a knot….)

 

I mean, how cute is that? Swap out the scarf with Seasonally appropriate colors to last year round.

 

Plaid# Pillow:

 

This pillow also uses freezer paper stenciling to get the black and white PLAID# text on the center of the basic pillow.

Right click on the image below and save it to your computer. Follow the instructions in the ‘Deer Pillow’ above for how to freezer paper stencil the image onto your pillow.

 

Cut strips of plaid ribbon and pin onto the right side of (1) pillow square. Sew around the edges of the ribbon to secure. Repeat until you have your desired plaid ribbon pattern.  Following the instructions in the ‘Deer Pillow’ above, paint using the freezer paper stencil method the ‘PLAID#’ image onto the front of your pillow. Allow to dry, and finish sewing pillow as you normally would.

 

We’ve got one room started!!!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and until next time…

Happy Sewing!