blue Cinderella pumpkin pillow fall decor

I could write a book filled with all the DIY pillow tutorials I've shared over the past few years. (Note to self: start writing said book....) Anyway, today I have yet another one to add to the collection -- a DIY blue pumpkin pillow. And like most of my pillows it's inexpensive, easy to make and (almost) no-sew. AND it fits in beautifully with my ongoing modern farmhouse living room/dining room combo redecoration. What could be better than that?

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This Pottery Barn Painted Pumpkin Patch Pillow Cover was all the rage a few years ago. (It's no longer available.) I've wanted to make one since the first time I laid eyes on it. But I'm no artist. And as you know, I wasn't going to pay top dollar for it. Fast forward to today and The Little Bluebird Gallery featuring art by Amanda Hilburn. I was so excited to become a follower of Amanda's blog after I fell in love with many of her paintings. She is so talented!

And here's the proof! It's the hand painted pumpkin image she shared with her readers: Free Milk Paint Pumpkin Clip Art. (NOTE: PLEASE GO TO HER SITE TO DOWNLOAD THE IMAGE!) The style is definitely farmhouse shabby chic and I say Amen to that! She even provides the pumpkin image in a number of milk paint-y colors for you to choose from! I, of course, chose blue since: 1) Blue pumpkins are my favorite and 2) my living room and family room decor each has touches of turquoise/aqua so this one was a no-brainer for me. So, how did I make it?

Pottery Barn Painted Pumpkin Patch Pillow Cover Knock-Off Tutorial

Iron-on Transfers and Stitch Witchery

MATERIALS LIST

pumpkin graphic saved to your computer (get yours over at Amanda's blog; please be sure to honor her terms)

T-shirt transfer paper (I used Avery T-Shirt Transfer Paper)

ink-jet printer

Stitch Witchery

scissors

iron

pillow cover, size of your choice
(I made my own -- details below -- but I love this plain burlap linen one that would work great)

pillow insert (You can get an 18" x 18" pillow insert here)
OR
Polyester Fiberfill (optional)

invisible nylon thread

needle

1. Print your graphic onto the transfer paper, following the instructions on the package. Make sure you place the transfer paper into the printer with the correct side facing down! I always check first by putting in a piece of plain paper and writing on it with an "X". Then I send it through the printer to find out if it prints on the top side (where the "X" is) or the bottom side of my paper. You can see how I did it in a previous DIY monogram flour sack pillow post. (I also go over how you may want to "flip" your image before printing.)

2. Once printed, cut out the image, as close to the borders of the image as possible (to eliminate as much of the "white" border from the paper as possible).

3. Iron the transfer paper, image-side down, onto your pillow cover, again following the instructions on the package.

4. Now go on to put your cover together via Stitch Witchery as explained below.

I originally was going to use some floursack towels as the material for my pillow. But I managed to pick up a package of plain linen napkins at Michael's on Clearance for 60% off (that's 80 cents per napkin). Not surprisingly, the light bulb went off and I knew that's what I would use to create my pumpkin pillow.

I'm a huge fan of using napkins and placemats as the building blocks for DIY pillows. If that sounds likes something you're interested in, I've made many Christmas pillow covers from placemats and Thanksgiving pillows from cloth napkins!

5. First I ironed the napkins, then measured my pillow form which was 13" wide. I then cut my two napkins down to one inch larger than that (for seam allowance), or 14" wide. I then worked my Stitch Witchery magic to close off three sides of the pillow cover. (Clear and easy instructions on how to use Stitch Witchery is included on the package. You can also see how I use it as part of my DIY Monogram Flour Sack Pillow Tutorial.) Then I inserted the pillow form and began the process of sewing closed the one open side of the cover.

You can certainly opt to stuff your pillow cover with filling rather than an actual pillow form, thereby eliminating the need to sew closed the entire fourth side of your DIY pillow cover. In that instance you would just use Stitch Witchery to close the fourth side of the pillow cover almost completely, leaving a small opening to fit your hand in. Once you fill it with stuffing you'll be left with only a very small area to sew closed.