I like the idea of doing a theme in kids’ rooms without it being overbearing or matchy-matchy. When I decorated my son’s “big kid” room a couple of years ago, I went with a car/truck theme in blues and greens. In order to tie the bedding into that theme, I “made” a couple of accent pillows. “Made” is in quotes because you should know by now that I don’t do well with sewing machines, although maybe that will change in the future! So no sewing machine required for this project!
Supplies:
- Premade pillow covers and pillow inserts
- Printed outline of your choice (train and bus in this example)
- Contrasting fabric of your choice (navy used here)
- Iron-on adhesive
- Needle & thread if finishing stiches desired
First, I chose a couple of pillow covers I liked from Hobby Lobby. They have an awesome (and affordable!) selection of pillow covers in really cute patterns. I chose an 18″ x 18″ green chevron and an orange cover for a pop of color. The green chevron is no longer available, but they have other cute colors like this blue one ($7.99). You can also buy the inserts there ($9.99).
Next, I searched for outlines I liked and wanted to replicate on the pillows. Go to www.images.google.com and search for “___ silhouette” or “___ outline.” I went with a train outline and a bus outline (it’s actually fully detailed, but I liked the lines of it the best). I printed each outline as big as I could on a piece of paper and cut it out.
To prepare the contrasting fabric (mine is navy), I followed the first step of ironing on the iron-on adhesive to the back side (if there is one) of the contrasting fabric. Heat N Bond works great for this.
Then, I traced the cut-out paper outline on to the contrasting fabric. Make sure to trace where the Heat N Bond is applied, and keep in mind which way the outline will face on the pillow. After tracing, I cut out the traced image on navy fabric.
I followed the second set of steps for the iron-on adhesive to apply the navy cut-out to the pillow cover. Be sure to read the laundering instructions for the pillow cover, and go easy on the heat if needed. I kept a towel between the iron and the fabric to protect the pillow cover.
It sounds like a long list of steps, but I just put a lot of detail in there. I promise it’s not that hard, and it looks really cute!
To ensure curious hands don’t try to pull off the outline (speaking from experience here!), you can quickly hand-stich around the contrasting fabric. That extra detail looks nice too! My pillows lasted almost 1 1/2 years without any stitching, but once little hands got some corners loose, they quickly started to go downhill.
I just recently hand-stiched around the outlines, and they look good as new!
I like adding hand-crafted elements to the room, and these really round out the bed!