Robin Accent Pillow-Tutorial

I recently designed and made this very simple accent pillow so I wanted to share how I did it in case you get a hankering to add just that right touch but still KISS. You know...Keep It Simple Sister! I LOVE the simplicity of things and this surely fits the bill, not just in the look of it, but also how simple it is to make!

To start you will pick your fabrics. You might remember my post awhile back about fabric that I love. I drew on those again of course. I used muslin for the front of the pillow and an ivory broadcloth I got at IKEA. 

Here is the broadcloth on top of the muslin. I lined them up on top of each other so I could cut them at the same time so they were exactly the same.

 I used a ruler to mark where I wanted to cut the fabric with a pencil. The measurements I used for my pillow were 9 inches by 13 inches, but you can make yours any size and dimension you want! Once I had it cut (remember I kept both fabrics on top of each other and cut them at the same time) I ironed it so I had a nice, flat piece of material to work with. I took just the muslin piece and applied the stencil to it, placing it approx 1 3/4 inches above the bottom of the fabric and approx 2 1/2 inches in from the right side. You can use your own stencil or you can buy this robin one below for $4.

Once I was sure I had it where I wanted it, I pulled off the masking cover to expose the stencil.

 

Then I painted. I used simple acrylic craft paint. You can add a fabric medium to the paint if you want, but I did not find this necessary since I will never do more than spot clean this pillow. I used Delta Ceramcoat #02650 Tahiti Blue. (No, I did not spell that wrong, it is Ceramcoat, I have always read it Creamcoat! Ya learn something new every stinkin' day!) Make sure you put a paper plate or other protective covering over your work space (my husband wishes I heeded my own advice all the time!)

Once it was dry I pulled the stencil off and then let it sit and dry some more. You don't want to work with this until it is TOTALLY dry!

Now comes the sewing! You will want to use a sewing machine for this, if you can thread your machine you have done the hardest part. You are just going to sew straight lines. You will now place fabric pieces together, wrong sides out. Using a 1/4 seam I sewed all four sides of the pillow, stopping about 1 1/2 inches short of closing it up. I used this hole to turn the right side out and I used scissors to push out the corners. 

Next, using polyester fill you want to start stuffing the pillow as full as you can until you get a shape you like. I again use scissors in the hole to push filling into the corners. I stuff it until it is a shape I like. Here it is almost full with a little fill coming out the hole so you can see what it looks like. This fill is available at every craft/fabric shop and also Walmart and Target type stores.

Once you get it stuffed to your liking, thread a regular needle and hand stitch the hole closed. Use the exact same color thread as fabric so you cannot see the stitching.

Tie a knot at the end and trim strings.

There you have it! As you can see, I have made a few extras! I promised at the beginning of this blog I would help you do it yourself when you were having one of those confident, 'I can do this' days! If that day is today for you, have at it. If you would like to purchase the stencil, see below. Just $4 with FREE SHIPPING! 
BUT, if today is one of those 'I have been searching design blogs all day and I am overwhelmed and just want someone to do it for me' days I promised I would help with that too...so complete pillows are also available for purchase below.
Robin Accent Pillow

Robin Stencil in Vinyl