Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

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How To Stencil A Pillowcase

This is a heartwarming story featuring Ethan Hawke and Gwyneth Paltrow about getting crafty with a pillowcase, some fabric paint, and a metal grate, hence that pun-tastic title.

Grate Art4

I don’t know about you, but I always seem to have one or two extra pillowcases around. We only have one set of sheets per bed, but I think since I buy two extra pillows for every bed (and therefore need extra pillowcases) I must see them on sale and grab them without making sure I really need them (hence the over-abundance). Really, it’s sort of a mystery to me since I’m the girl who won’t buy tomato sauce or toothpaste unless I’m sure I’m out, but maybe in another life I was short a pillowcase and it ruined my day so now I hoard them. Truly, it’s weird.

But anyway, I had this extra pillowcase so I thought it would be fun to use it as spare fabric and get a little crafty. And thus this project was born. First I taped it off in a rectangular shape using painter’s tape to hold the fabric taut. Oh and I slipped a piece of cardboard inside the pillowcase to keep it from bleeding or sticking together before taping it down.

Pillowcase1

Then I taped this cute metal grate over it that I picked up at Home Depot for $9, which I immediately looked at and my brain said “um – STENCIL!” At first I debated doing this on paper to make some frame-able art, so you can go that route too, but then I thought using fabric paint on a pillowcase and stitching that up to make an easy little bolster could be fun, so I veered that way at the fork in the road that is Craft Street.

Pillowcase2

I raided my supply drawer for some Martha Stewart craft paints (they say right on the label that they work on fabric – and they’re only a few bucks a pop so I grab them in colors that I like whenever I see them on sale). I also had these stencil brushes (the ones in the blue package) in my craft basket after using a coupon to get them almost free a little while back from Michaels, so I was happy to finally put them to good use. All told, the only thing I bought for this project was the $9 grate, but if you had to pick up the paint and the brushes and the grate it would probably be around $20 as long as you have some fabric on hand. The good thing is that the grate is reusable, so you could make a few pillows or even a table runner and matching napkins and then make some art/stationery/gift tags with it. Oh man, now I’m thinking about the holiday-gift potential…

Pillowcase3

Next it was stamping time. I tried not to load my brush up too much (I worried from the start that things could bleed under the grate – and thick paint applications can make fabric crunchy) so I dabbed it on a paper towel a few times to get rid of excess paint before tap-tap-tapping my way around the grate. I tried to do sections of colors in sort of an irregular wave shape, just so nothing looked like obvious stripes and dots, but had more of a sand-art feeling. Oh yeah, who remembers sand art?

Pillowcase5

Occasionally I blended stuff using a bunch of extra dabs. This is what the blue did on top of the yellow after some extra pats in that area (see how it mixed to create sort of a yellow to green to blue gradient there?).

Pillowcase6

In other places I went with less of a blended edge and more of a defined color-meets-another-color border. It was fun and loosey-goosey and the whole thing probably took me around twenty minutes.

Pillowcase7

I waited a little while to remove the grate (maybe an hour?) just because I worried I’d shift it slightly while ripping off the tape and smear the whole thing. When it dried and I finally removed it… welp, there was some bleeding in a few areas. At first I was sad, but the more I looked at it, the more I liked the varied/imperfect pattern. It almost reminded me of constellations.

Grate Art5

I think if you were going for a perfectly clean-lined look at home, using some stencil adhesive to stick the grate to the paper/fabric might result in a crisper edge, and using even less paint on your brush (and just dabbing it suuuper lightly) would probably cut down on the bleeding issue as well.

Grate Art4

But in the end, I’m calling those imperfections a happy accident. Sort of like how you pay the big bucks for those hand stamped block printed fabrics that are cool and irregular… but that’s the charm. At least that’s what I’m telling myself.

Grate Art6

Update: For those asking if this is washable, someone commented to say they had luck washing fabric that they painted with the same Martha Stewart product by following the directions on the container, so it looks like it can work! I’d just read the label first to find out what you’re dealing with if you plan to wash the item often (like cloth napkins for example) because other fabric paints might have simpler instructions.

Heck, I also think the grate is pretty great art itself. So you could always just paint the grate and not worry about any bleeding under it and then use a metal snip to cut it to fit a frame.

Grate Art

And now that I’ve mentioned the potential for reusing the grate, I’m kind of excited at the idea of a homemade runner or a matching set of napkins. Anyone else planning to try their hand at some grate creations? Will Ethan Hawke be invited? Will Gwyneth Paltrow bring the crudités?

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Comments

  1. Jude says

    Sherry, your little bolster is so pretty! The colors are beautiful, like a sunset on the beach. You have some awesome God given talent.
    So happy your family is expanding, you guys are truly blessed.
    Have a great day :)

    Reply

  3. Mareka says

    It’s gorgeous. Looks like a nebula to me. I’m off to Home Depot to pick up the grate. I’m thinking red, white, and blue. Wish me luck. :)

    Reply

  6. Frannie says

    You may have answered this already, but for folks worried about washing, there is a Martha Fabric medium. You mix it with your paint and it keeps it soft and you can wash it. I made a ton of onesies for my little girl with it and they held up great, through multiple washings!

    Reply

  7. Lauren says

    This looks like a design that I would absolutely buy from Society6 – in either a print or a pillowcase (or heck, even an iphone case). I would love to see your artist muscles flexed more both on the site, and in places like Society6 where I can buy :)

    Reply

  8. Wendy says

    Sheri,

    I tried to find this grate material (HA!) at my local HD last year and they had no clue what I was talking about…even WITH a picture. Do you have the item # from your receipt or something you could tweet me with? Or even what dept to look in?
    @wendymari #lilhelp :)

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Ours was in the area with the mailboxes and the house numbers. It’s slipped into cubbies like they display some other stuff (plywood squares, etc) so you’d only see the side of it leaning up in the cubby. It’s a metal heating screen so maybe asking for the venting/heating/cooling aisle is easier?

      xo
      s

  9. Stephanie says

    Great minds think alike! I just picked up an air filter at our local Habitat for Humanity store to use as a stencil for an outdoor rug. I love how the pillow turned out. The bleeding looks like it was planned! Thanks for the craft tips.

    Reply

  10. Rishia says

    Well Sherry, as always you never cease to amaze me. What with that is on your mind right now…you pop this out. I have seen of course on Pinterest every imaginable way to deco a pillow case. Lace as a stencil, stencils, ombre of course….on and on…YOU always come out of left field with something exceptional. As others have said..the flowing of the paint albeit something perhaps not expected, is , for me the beauty of it. I am a ‘folk’ artist, I call it word art, and I use multimedia in my work. THIS technique gives a very 3D multimedia affect to the beholder.
    I natch posted this on every possible board of mine and one ‘crafty’ board I am on…Your blog is the ONLY blog I rave
    about, explaining the John and Sherry way of things…research, trial, change if needed, practical, thorough and as inexpensive as possible without sacrificing desired outcome.
    You really do never fail to amaze me.
    Lots of WONDERFUL blogs out there, I can’t keep up with all the ones I choose to follow…..yet YOU TWO are special, so very special….you have got ‘it’ as us old timers would say.
    Cherish it, be thankful to be so blessed with your talents…and accept the fact you two are genius persons…that includes Clara of course …such a joy to see her reaction to HER baby brother/sister in YOUR tummy. EXACTLY as I anticipated.
    You two deserve every good thing this life brings….sorry so many words….sometimes I just can’t help myself.(: LOVE to all including Burger and the ‘bun’, Nanny Rishia

    Reply

  11. Lilja says

    To add to the chorus of “uneveness makes it more charming”: At first I thought you had purposely painted the bleeded areas, to add some flower/star detail. Sometimes crafting holds such beautiful surprises :)
    (Also digging the geometric patterend pilllows).

    Reply

  15. Christine says

    What I always find myself wondering while I look at your website is “how can they be so creative?!” You are always so creative. How do you look at a grate at a hardware store and image it as something so much greater?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Aw thanks Christine! It just looked so stencil-ish to me! But so many people have commented with other cool uses for them (magnet board, hurricane holder). It’s fun to think about all the possibilities!

      xo
      s

  16. Anne O'Brien says

    I used the same grate from Home Depot but painted it with magnetic paint and my daughter hung it in her dorm room and uses it to hang stuff on with magnets

    Reply

  17. Lindsay Osborne says

    OMG! I was dreaming about this grate and pillow last night. In my dream I even pulled over on the side of a busy road to buy a matching grate. A dream-worthy project! ;)

    Reply

  19. Lindsey says

    This is a great idea! I am not very crafty and always am afraid to try DIY and end up spending a fortune on décor. I think I am going to try this in a Chevron! Will post a picture.

    Reply

  21. Kate Craig says

    You forgot to say you also need an artistic eye ;) I love your colors/pattern! And the bleeding doesn’t bother me at all. I really think this looks store-bought, not DIY-ed!

    Reply

  22. Lara says

    Great tutorial! I’m sure the same idea with the stencil and paint can be used on a solid-colored patio pillow to change things up too.

    Reply

  26. Kate Hougen says

    Love this!! And napkins made from Clara’s artwork in the same or similar colors would be a wonderful sequel to this – and great addition to your new kitchen table. Would love to make some for you! :) -Kate @MiraJeanDesigns

    Reply

  29. Mackenzie says

    Question… What was the size of the cushion you used? I assume you also had it lying around the house? I love this idea, but I think I will need to buy a cushion.

    Reply

  30. Courtney says

    Hey Sherry!

    I went to Home Depot last night to try to find the grate and didn’t have luck finding the one you used. The nicest man ever tried helping us find them but we only could find grill grates (expensive) and the cheap $1-$2 flimsy grates. I know you said it was near the mailbox section in your store – any other pointers on what the grate is called or where it would be? Thanks for your help!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Maybe saying “heat registers” would help? They’re leaning up in wood cubbies, sort of slid into them vertically. People use them for radiator covers so maybe mentioning that helps too?

      xo
      s

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