How to Make a Pillow with Iron On Transfer Paper
Did you know that you can take any image (including a gorgeous free printable) plus some iron-on transfer paper and turn it into a pillow cover? Or a t-shirt. Or anything made out of fabric! I’ll show you how to make adorable pillows with a free printable and iron-on transfer paper in 4 easy steps!
My friend recently introduce me to iron-on transfer paper and I couldn’t believe that I’d never heard of this DIY craft before! I really thought I had heard and see everything in the DIY world, but this one was new and I was super excited to try it out for myself!
I created some new free printables to try it out for the first time, and it seriously could not have been easier. I was in love with the results, and I know you will be too!
Just grab your favorite image, which could be one of the bajillion free printables out there, or anything you love and let’s get started!
RELATED: Easy DIY Throw Pillow
What You’ll Need to Make a Pillow with Iron On Transfer Paper
- Iron On Transfer Paper (obviously 😉) – and you’ll need to choose whether it’s for light fabric or dark fabric
- An image you want to transfer – I’ve included 3 fall printables below, but you can see a number of my free printables here. (You will have to mirror the image for it to work! I use PicMonkey to mirror mine, but you can do a google search for other ways. My printables below are already mirrored for you.)
- Iron
- Pillow Cover (or other fabric) – I made a pillow over with drop cloth
- Good Quality Color Printer – I recently purchased this wireless color printer and love it! If you don’t have a color printer, you can always go to Staples or Office Depot and have them print it for you.
How to Make a Pillow with Iron On Transfer Paper
- Select your image. I’ve included 3 pretty free printables below, but you can choose your favorite image from anywhere! I have a ton of free printables to choose from here.
- Mirror your image. You will want to make your image backwards, so that it looks correct when you iron it on. I mirrored my images using PicMonkey, but I’m sure there are other ways to do this, just do a Google search. I have mirrored the 3 images below for you, but you’ll need to do it for any other images you want to use.
- Print your image in to the Iron On Transfer Paper – following the instructions carefully on the transfer paper package. It really wasn’t hard, but just make sure you know which side to print on so that you don’t waste anything! I followed the instructions exactly and it worked great!
- Once your image is printed (backwards) on the transfer paper, place it in the center of your pillow (or t-shirt, or whatever) and follow the instructions for ironing it on the fabric.
- According to the instructions for the iron on transfer paper I bought, once the paper is ironed on the fabric, you can peel the backing off.
- Now you have a gorgeous pillow cover with a unique design! I love it!!
Free Fall Printables (with mirrored images for your project!)
I created 3 different free printables for you to try out your new, awesome crafting skills! I mirrored them for you already, so if you want to use them for an iron-on transfer, then you can! Or you can just print them on regular paper and stick them in a frame. Up to you!!
Click here to download the Free Fall Printables.
Enjoy your fall paintable and your new pillow cover! I know you will love it!
Fabulous printables. Thank you!
I have done a few projects using the iron on transfers, and really love it As far as washing it, I have turned the piece inside out and this has helped a little to stop any fading. This time I am trying something a little different. I’m going to try embroidering over the design to give it a raised look. And just a note. I’m sure this would make it washable. I’ll let you know how it turns out
I work at a public library and these caused us to have a service call for our laser printer. A patron asked to print on these but she didn’t have the container with her, so our employee didn’t know it was inkjet rather than laser. It didn’t print well and got “stuff” on some part of the printer that had to be cleaned by the repair people. I would be very careful.
You definitely need to use an inkjet printer with this transfer paper, Angie. I’ll go back and mention that in my post! Thanks for the heads up! – Laura
I’ve always wanted to try this! Quick question. Do we have to use an inkjet printer or can it be laser? I’ve always heard inkjet but thought maybe your new one was laser? That’s the only kind we have. Thanks for the printables too! Love this pillow!
Hi Cindy, unfortunately my printer is an inkjet, and I looked up the customer reviews on Amazon for the transfer paper and it said you’ll need to use inkjet printer, otherwise it will smudge. 😞 Bummer, for sure!!
The Avery transfer paper says:
“Color shield formula means colors stay bright, even after being washed”.
Ohhhh, awesome! Good to know, Curtis!! Thanks for sharing!
Are those pillows washable with those transfers?
Hi Jerri, I honestly don’t think so, but there may be something on the fine print on the transfer paper that says it is. I do know there is such a thing as waterproof ink, and there are tutorials out there that share how to print directly on fabric. So, that could be an option if it needs to be washed. Otherwise, I’d say probably not. Thanks for reading!! Laura