I’m still loving the heart doily prints!
Besides the t-shirts I printed last time, I also printed some hearts on plain fabric — white cotton and natural muslin. Then I sewed them up into little heart pillows.
They are each stuffed with a combination of millet and lavender flowers, so besides being decorative, they can be used as soothing hot/cold packs. They can be heated up in the microwave (or in a low oven for us since we don’t have a microwave) or put in the freezer.
How to Make Heart Pillows
MATERIALS
- Sewing machine
- White cotton fabric or Natural muslin
- Fabric paint (or BioColor paint
mixed with a special BioColor fabric medium) - Paper heart doilies
- Mini paint roller
- Brayer (optional)
- Acrylic box frame (optional)
- Newspaper and/or scrap paper
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Lay out doily
First, lay the heart doily right side up on a sheet of newspaper or paper. Have another piece of paper handy nearby.
2. Cut a piece of fabric
Next, cut two heart-shaped pieces of fabric large enough to print the doily on. Allow a few extra inches of space around the print for sewing the seams together. Set one aside.
3. Prepare paint
Now pour a small amount of paint onto a plate (I used an old acrylic box frame) and roll your paint roller around to evenly coat it with paint.
4. Coat doily evenly with paint
Roll your paint-covered roller over the doily, coating it as evenly as possible with the paint. (You could use a paint brush or foam brush for this step, but the paint may not be applied as evenly.)
5. Position doily on fabric
Set your doily, paint side down, on the center of the piece of fabric.
6. Print heart design
Lay an extra piece of paper over the doily. Use your hard rubber brayer (or rolling pin) to roll over the paper and doily to transfer the paint evenly to the fabric.
7. Remove doily & let dry
Lift the paper and doily off to reveal your heart print.
8. Sew pillow together
- Place a printed piece of fabric together with a heart shaped piece of white fabric.
- Pin together and sew a 1/4″ seam around leaving a 1 inch gap open.
- Turn right side out and stuff with millet and lavender flowers.
- Hand stitch the remaining gap together.
I’m thinking these would be nice to send a child to bed with at night, perhaps warmed up first, to help them fall asleep. Or to use to soothe a bruised knee (or ego).
I love the weight and heft the millet gives these, too! They feel great in my hands.
And the lavender is nice and calming.
More Printed Heart Shirts
I had some friends over for some more heart doily printing recently. I was going to print more for the heart doily pillows and decided it would be a good opportunity for friends to bring a t-shirt or two to print while everything was set up.
We started with red hearts, then got out the black fabric paint and tried some black ones as well! This is getting rather addictive…
How about you? What is your favorite Valentine’s Day craft project? Leave a comment below!
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14 Comments
This girl loves to talk
February 6, 2011 at 8:33 pmI love them and the tshirts. I have been on the hunt for heart doilies (valentines not as big in australia as it is the US I think – Its not a kids thing here, strictly teens and adults, no kids sharing valentines etc but I’m changing that slowly!!)
Holly
February 6, 2011 at 9:53 pmThis is an AWESOME idea!!! You could do this for any celebration or holiday!!! ( The creative wheels are turning = ) Oh! & your little Heart pillows look very SWEET…LUV THEM!!!
Maria
February 6, 2011 at 10:45 pmI am so sorry I missed your doily-printing workshop! Your pillows are adorable.
milkymumma
February 7, 2011 at 6:50 amLove these! What a lovely thing to take to bed on a cold Winter’s night. Thank you for sharing. xx
JDaniel4's Mom
February 7, 2011 at 8:51 amI hope you will link this post to my Virtual Valentine’s Day Party. I bet my readers would enjoy seeing it.
http://www.jdaniel4smom.com/2011/02/welcome-virtual-valentines-day-party.html
Sandra
February 7, 2011 at 12:04 pmyou know, I tried this and my heart doily always tears and doesn’t transfer the color to the shirt or fabric. Anything you suggest for me to try and change? Also , where did you buy the doilys from?
Thanks!
Peaceful Knitter
February 7, 2011 at 12:48 pmGreat idea! Did you use paper/cardboard doilies?
Alisha
February 7, 2011 at 12:56 pmLove it! Where did you get the doilies? Any special kind? …and how exactly do you do the printing? I can tell you roll the paint on, but then after that I imagine it being a little tricky.
Jean Van't Hul
February 7, 2011 at 9:55 pmSandra, that happened to me when I used metallic fabric paint and it also happened to a friend who used a different brand of fabric paint. What paint are you using? I bought some doilies at K-Mart, some at Target (cheapie ones from their $1 section that I thought wouldn’t work, but that worked fine), and some at Michael’s.
Jean Van't Hul
February 7, 2011 at 9:55 pmYes, paper doilies!
Jean Van't Hul
February 7, 2011 at 9:56 pmI bought the doilies at K-mart and Target — just regular paper doilies. Nothing special. For how I do the printing, see my previous post about the heart doily printing: http://artfulparent.typepad.com/artfulparent/2011/01/how-to-make-a-heart-doily-t-shirt.html
megwrites
February 8, 2011 at 12:17 amI love the idea of sending kids to bed in such a loving way. I am embarrassed to say that we have one of those rice heating packs made out of an old sock! This is MUCH cuter!
gail
February 10, 2011 at 11:04 pmWe were all set up to make a doily print, but at the last minute we used the doily as a stencil. There was just something irresistible about that negative space. Thanks for the inspiration.
http://alwaysarting-colorcolorcolor.blogspot.com/2011/02/valentines-day-shirts.html
search engine placement
September 22, 2011 at 3:25 amWow what a beautiful pillows design, I love heart shape design. and thanks for sharing that idea.great job.