Make custom pillows for your home! These DIY decorative pillows are adorable and add a little style to your front porch or living room. Plus, you can stencil them in any design you choose. This craft takes about 15 minutes to make, so grab your supplies and get started.
This is a part of burlap week, where we are sharing 15-minute burlap crafts every day. You can catch up with day 1 and day 2 and also scroll to the bottom of this post for today’s ideas from our blog partners.
In my opinion, everyone needs some burlap pillows. Add on some stenciled designs, and you can have DIY decorative pillows in minutes for any room in your home. Plus, they are easy to make!
You can do similar crafts with grain sacks and even outdoor pillows! These will look super cute on your porch or inside, too. You can add any quote or shape you like with your stencil. I used a shape and a “hello” to welcome visitors!
DIY Decorative Pillows
Supplies needed:
- Burlap pillow covers (I found mine at Hobby Lobby)
- Your choice of Stencil Vinyl
- Cricut Machine
- Outdoor paint in the colors of your choice (be sure to choose a good quality paint)
- Sponge pouncer brush
- Paintbrush
- Stencil adhesive
- Iron
- Scrap paper or cardboard
- Outdoor pillow forms
Start with the video below, which shows just how to stencil on these burlap pillows.
Can’t watch the video or missed some of the steps. Here are the instructions for you:
Step 1 – Make or choose the stencil
If you are using a premade stencil, skip to step 2. To make your own stencil, open up a blank canvas in Cricut Design Space. Then you can search for whatever design you’d like to paint on your DIY decorative pillows. In the photo below, I searched for “Hello” and then searched for “mandala stencil” for the designs. You can pick whatever you’d like, just keep in mind that you’re creating a stencil, so you’ll need to keep the insides of letters and other details.
Then, to make cutting the stencil a bit easier, add a rectangle around the Hello graphic and select both the rectangle and word, then click Exclude.
You now have designs that are ready to be cut into stencils. You can see what I use to make stencils in this post.
Step 2 – Iron pillow blanks
Iron the burlap pillow covers to remove any wrinkles. Then, insert scrap paper or cardboard into the pillow cover to protect the back if any paint seeps through.
Step 3 – Prepare the stencils
Now it is time to work on your stencil. If you are using a premade stencil, turn it over to the backside. Spray the back well with a stencil adhesive and allow to dry completely. If you cut your own stencil, depending on your stencil material, you may not need to add an adhesive. Once dry, press the stencil into place on your pillow cover.
Step 4 – Add paint
Load up your sponge pouncer brush with your outdoor paint. If you are going to be using these pillows inside, you can use indoor paint or even fabric ink instead of outdoor paint.
Then paint over the stencil, ensuring all areas are covered with paint. You may have to go over some areas twice.
Peel back the stencil immediately to reveal your design.
If you need to fill in the stencil lines, use a regular paint brush for the best results. This is especially true of words or letters.
Step 5 – Finish the pillows
Allow the paint to dry completely. You may have to heat set it with an iron at this point, depending on the paint you purchased.
Remove the scrap paper from the inside of the pillow cover and add in an outdoor pillow form. Your pillow is ready to display!
Then just add your burlap pillows to your outdoor decor! You will love the look of these custom pillows that you can make in just minutes.
What stencil will you add to your DIY decorative pillows? With your Cricut machine, you have so many possibilities!
More Burlap Crafts
Love these DIY decorative pillows and want more ideas? Try the links below!
So, whether you make burlap pillows or one of these other crafts, you might just be surprised at everything this fabric can do!
These burlap stenciled pillows are perfect for my wicker chair, I love them!!