DIY Stenciled Drop Cloth Throw Pillow

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Learn how to make your own DIY drop cloth pillow with a stenciled message from my own calligraphy: sunshine & summertime!

A few weeks ago I hurried home from church on a Sunday afternoon, fed my family, left for the afternoon and walked into a room filled with strangers. It was a day I had been excitedly looking forward to for a couple of months.

Sunshine and Summertime! It's a pretty, DIY stenciled drop-cloth pillow tutorial at TheTurquoiseHome.com. I love the pretty pink and gold pops of color and the fun hand-lettered stencil!

And that’s odd for me because I don’t usually look forward to spending hours making small talk with women I’ve never met before.

I walked in, a little nervous, but determined to give it my all and learn something new.

The 4 long tables were decked out in gorgeous flower arrangements, pens, pencils, erasers, sharpeners, and pretty folders. The ladies were dressed casually, but nice.

Practice makes progress - hand-lettering class!

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The young lady in the front of the room quickly asked me my name and pointed to a seat at the front of the class. Well, at least I’ll be able to see the board well, even though I hate sitting in the front.

A few hours later and I was thoroughly enjoying my schooling in hand lettering class.

I take that back – I was gobsmacked, enthralled and wondering where this had been my whole life. I spent most of my childhood doodling my name, all kinds of words on every sort of scrap of paper I could find. And now I’d finally been taught how to make it pretty.

Sunshine and Summertime hand-lettering fun!

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While I’ll admit I have a long way to go and need a lot of practice, this is something I don’t mind practicing over and over again. It’s therapeutic, really.

So, I spent one afternoon while Miss A and Coach were gone for a bit and the baby was napping, practicing a little summertime lovely. I knew immediately that I wanted to figure out a way to incorporate it into my summer decor, but not by just framing it or putting it up on the mantel.

And since I love stencils, paint, and pillows, I decided to turn it into a fun pretty for the couch!

A DIY Stenciled Drop Cloth Pillow Tutorial

I’ve stenciled a drop cloth pillow before, but I wanted to recreate the tutorial a little differently today.

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Supplies for Making a DIY Drop Cloth Pillow with Stencil

  • Drop cloth (I just pick mine up at the home improvement store.)
  • Needle, thread, sewing machine
  • Stencil
  • Paint/brush
  • Silhouette Cameo (optional)
  • Pix Scan Mat (optional)

1. Make Your Stencil

You can use whatever kind of stencil you’d like, but I wanted to make my own. I placed my hand-lettered sign on the Pix Scan mat. I don’t know if I had to do that to transfer to the Silhouette, but I know this worked.

Then, I was able to create a cut file from my scan and I’m sharing it here for personal use only. I hope you enjoy it, for all of you who have a Silhouette machine.

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Sunshine and Summertime Cut File (for Silhouette users only)

2. Cut out the stencil using contact paper on the Silhouette machine.

My settings for cutting contact paper on the Silhouette are: blade – 3, speed – 8 and thickness 3.

3. Make the Pillow

I used my older pillow tutorial to make my pillow out of the drop cloth.

I cut three pieces of fabric from the drop cloth. Here are the dimensions of the pieces: 1 – 26″ x 26″; 1 – 20″ x 26″; 1 – 16″ by 26″.

I’m using a 26″x26″ pillow form, and I like the finished pillow to be filled out a little bit, so I make the pillow cover a little smaller than the pillow.

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4. Stitch around the edges to make the pillow

Since it didn’t matter which sides of the fabric were on the outside or inside, I just placed them over each other and stitched around the edges on my sewing machine.

5. Use Transfer Tape to Put the Stencil on the Pillow

Once the contact paper was cut out, I used transfer tape to get it on the pillow.

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6. Paint over the stencil onto the pillow

Important Step: I placed plastic bags between the layers once I was ready to paint!

I used some leftover pink and gold paint to stencil the words onto the pillow. Use a craft foam brush and use up and down strokes all over the stencil. The key is to use just a little bit of paint. Dab your brush before putting it on the stencil—more like a dry brushing.

7. Remove the Stencil from the Pillow

Once dry, I lifted up my stencil and admired my handiwork!

Sunshine and Summertime! It's a pretty, DIY stenciled drop-cloth pillow tutorial at TheTurquoiseHome.com. I love the pretty pink and gold pops of color and the fun hand-lettered stencil!

Isn’t she pretty? My new pillow pairs perfectly with my Garden & Lemonade Stand Summer Mantel, don’t you think??

I’m pretty excited about my personal touch on the couch for the summer. I have a few more drop cloth pillow ideas up my sleeve. I hope to share them soon!

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19 Comments

  1. Love your pillow, Laura! It’s perfectly summer. Thanks so much for linking up to Inspiration2. You’re being featured this week. Woo-hoo. xo

  2. Love this! I so wish I had a Silhouette…sigh. Maybe someday. Actually definitely someday lol. Thanks for sharing! Stopping by from the Flaunt It Friday linkup 🙂

    1. Girl! I will wish for it for you. 🙂 I know that someday when you get it, it’ll be all worth the wait. Just squirrel away these ideas until that day comes. Thanks so much for stopping by!!

  3. There is nothing more therapeutic than a bit of DIY. Love the way you designed the wording for your pillow.

  4. Love love love this Laura!! Such an awesome font- and I always love a good dropcloth project. Pinned and sharing on my FB page! Have a fabulous weekend, friend;)

  5. That is so neat that the calligraphy on the pillow is yours!! I would love to find a class like that. Beautiful job!

  6. Wow! This is beautiful. I am jealous. I would love to attend a class like that and I need to get a Silhouette. LOL! Nice job.

  7. Laura, the pillow is so lovely. I am so glad you took the lettering class! Your letters remind me of a font I am quite fond of. Happy Summer to you and your family.

  8. Have you ever had trouble with your Silhouette? Mine will not work and I can’t seem to get any help from Customer Service. I know it is the machine since I have tried it on 2 different computers and both say it can’t send to the Silhouette. I am beyond frustrated with the company!

    1. I’m sorry, Debbie!! I’ve never had any trouble with mine and I haven’t had to use customer service before. I wish I was more help, but I really don’t know. 🙁

  9. Ohhhh….I am so jealous that you got to go to a lettering class! That sounds absolutely amazing!!! Also, I feel like I just got a lesson in how to use my Silhouette a little better! Awesome project and tutorial, Laura! xo

    1. My Silhouette always intimidates me until I just jump in and get my hands dirty. I’m still a novice user, for sure! Thanks for stopping by, April!

  10. LOVE this!! The lettering is gorgeous!! I’ve been dying to take a class like that – how fun, Laura! Thanks so much for sharing this super cute pillow and being a part of our series!! xo

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