DIY: Herringbone Throw Pillow

It's been a long time since I posted but I'm finally back. Today, I wanted to share with you guys a simple DIY project that honestly just kind of happened one day somewhat unexpectedly. I'm actually really happy with the way it turned out, so I hope you guys like it too!
   My inspiration for the DIY was this herringbone canvas project that I've wanted to do for the longest time. I had bought a canvas for it and everything, but like so many of my must-do DIY projects, it just never ended up happening. ALSO: Please note that although I used acrylic paint for this project, FABRIC PAINT IS PREFERABLE. I only had white fabric paint and I didn't feel the need to go buy a bunch of fabric paint. Fabric paint is supposed to leave the fabric less stiff than acrylic paint, so it's definitely more suitable for a throw pillow.



WHAT YOU WILL NEED:
-Masking tape
-Acrylic paint (I used the brand CraftSmart from Michaels in the colours light pink, rose, robin's egg blue, ocean's breeze, white, and bright gold). 
-A few sponge brushes
-A needle & thread (or sewing machine)
-Pillow stuffing or a pillow insert (I actually just bought a really cheap pillow from Walmart, cut it open and used the polyfill inside. The pillow was relatively big and I only paid $3 as opposed to $10 or $15). 
-Two squares of fabric. One will be painted, the other will just be sewn. 

STEP ONE: MESS EVERYTHING UP
I initially wanted to do something completely different. Society 6 is a really awesome online design store where artists post their work and you can buy different products with that artwork on it, for example, t-shirts, throw pillows, tote bags, etc. I can't actually find the image of the pillow I was trying to create but it was similar to a herringbone pattern however the coloured sections look like strokes of paint. Anywho, I ended trying to do that and it failed miserably. I mean MISERABLY. So, in an attempt to take out my frustration, I began painting over the colours and all of a sudden something beautiful began to happen. As the colours underneath (blue, teal, gold, pink, and a darker coral) blended with the light pink on top, my fabric began to look almost galaxy like. 

STEP TWO: PAINT, BLEND, AND BLEND SOME MORE
I continued to add strokes of paint and blend them (which took me approximately 2 hours). I was being really slow with it plus I was watching What I Like About You (i used to love watching when I was younger and I found it online, so figured, why not?). As I progressively started to lose patience (and waste a whole lot of time) I began just adding bigger sections of paint and blending it using lighter shades of pink. In the end, I decided to add streaks of gold, however the rest of the paint was already dry, so I couldn't really blend it. It ended up fine, but I would definitely suggest adding all the colours at the same time. Then I just left the fabric to dry and came back about 30 minutes to an hour later.

STEP THREE: TAPE!
Start cutting the masking tape into rectangles.Try and make sure the tape is pressed down well so as to prevent leaks (I ended up with a few, as you can see in the picture, so I'm emphasizing this step). If you have painter's tape, that might work better but as with the fabric paint, I didn't have any and since this was kind of a spur of the moment project, I didn't have time to go buy any. For added effect, I ripped off a couple of pieces of tape afterwards to add a few solid white sections, as I've seen others do with the herringbone canvas art.

STEP FOUR: PAINT.
There isn't much to this step. Just grab your sponge brush and paint over the tape. Be careful right around the edges of the tape, especially where you feel the tape hasn't completely adhered to the fabric. I used white paint for this step but you can use any colour you like. I ended up painting two coats, but again, because I was using acrylic paint, it dried super fast. The rip off the tape and the painting is complete :)

STEP FIVE: GO SEW.
I lined up my two squares of fabric, making sure they were facing inside out (the painted side shouldn't be visible). Then I grabbed my needle and thread and took on the daunting task ahead. Once again, I had entertainment to keep me from falling asleep and stabbing myself in the eye (this time it was The O.C). When I got towards the end, I flipped the pillow inside out. I then stuffed it with my polyfill and then sewed up the rest of it (well, actually, I got my mom to finish the sewing but...I tried). And ta-da! You have yourself a throw pillow!



Thanks for reading :) I hope you liked and if you decide you wanna try it out, please tweet me a picture @SarTheBear22. Please follow me on here as well as on my Twitter. Also, comment your Pinterest and blog names (if you have a blog) so I can check them out and follow you too :)

Sarah,
Twitter: @SarTheBear22
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/sarseq22/

www.blogswithsarah.blogspot.ca