Hand Dyed and Painted Pillow Covers From Painters Canvas Drop Cloths

 Ack!  How does a week go by in the blink of an eye?  Last week didn't seem to be crazy busy and I plugged away working on projects and getting my workouts in but for some reason was not able to get a post written.  I guess there will be weeks like that.  I'm just really uncomfortable with straying away from plan of posting 3-4 times a week.  Just tell me "Get over it girl!".  Ohhhh-kaaaay.

Today I wanted to share with you some pillow covers that I made.  

First let me give you some background as to why I tackled this project. 

The couch in this room is not pretty.  It has a pretty little slip cover on it because it is not pretty.  But let me tell you, it is so, so comfy.  We love this couch.  

One thing I can NOT understand is why I still had the ugly pillows on the couch when the ugly couch had been covered up for months.  Sometimes I wonder where my head is.

This is how projects normally make it to my list- walk into a room and see a problem.  Ugly pillows, for instance.  Think "Do I have any materials on hand to fix the problem?"  Begin to fix the problem.

I had 2 painters canvas drop cloths unused that I bought to make chair covers for our Parsons Chairs and just never got around to it.   They were perfect to use to make my pillow covers.

I layed out the pillows on the drop cloths and guesstimated the size.  No need to measure.  Once I got one the right size I used it as my template for the other three pieces.

The color of the couch slipcover is cream.  The color of the drop cloths was oatmeal.  The two didn't look good together.  The canvas needed a hand dye job.  Not so hard to do. 

I mixed up some Rit Dye according to the package directions and dipped the canvas pieces in the dye one at a time.  I let them sit for about an hour and then rinsed them with cold water and sent them for a spin in the dryer.  Perfect.  Now there will be nice contrast between pillow and couch slipcover.

I don't do this very often.  I pulled out my sewing machine and started her up.  I'm assuming I'll bore you to death if I go on about pinning the good side pieces together and stitching around the outside, etc.  I am not an expert sewer.  I know how to use my machine and pretty much sew a straight line.  Everything I know about sewing I can thank 6,7, and 8th grade Home Ec class for.  

One tip I will give you in using the canvas drop cloths for projects is to make good use of their finished edges.  I sewed three sides of my pillow cover and left one side unsewn so that I could slide the pillow in.  On that unsewn side, make use of the factory finished edge.  I hand sewed a ribbon to each side and just plan on tying the covers closed.

But now, how boring to have a plain canvas drop cloth pillow cover.  They need something a little special.  What kind of post would this be if it didn't involve paint?  

My room is heading in the beachy, nautical direction.  And because I love to paint I thought it would be a good idea to paint some sort of beachy, nautical image on the front of the pillow cover.

I used the same anchor that I used on my son's dresser makeover and then also found a starfish I liked. 

I used block posters to print out the image the size that I needed.  Then I cut around the outside and pinned the image to my pillow cover.  I used pastel chalk in a color close to the one I would be painting with to trace around the outside of the image.

To mix the paint and make it good for painting on fabric I added some fabric medium.  To get the color I liked, I used a sample latex paint that we had laying around and some craft acrylic paint.  I used the bottle recommendations of 2 parts paint to 1 part medium.  Once the paint has dried for 24 hours, I used an iron to heat set the paint to the fabric.

And that's it.  Very simple process for a big change in the look of the room.  I hope this inspires you to get your creative juices flowing and see what you have around your house to make a simple change with a big impact.

And now for the fun part. . . . Please, please give me recommendations on what I can hang on the wall to help fill the empty space.  The piece that's there is special and close to my heart and will stay, but what else can I add that will help to fill the space, look good, and be meaningful? 

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