Make it Your Own: by tami sanders

Hello again! Tami Sanders back today with another project to show you.

We recently redecorated our boys’ bedrooms. My 16 year old, typical teenager, who’s favorite answer to any question is “meh”, decided he wanted his room to be gray. Well, gray and black. I agreed as long as there was SOME color relief in the room. Drew selected red and aqua; a pretty respectable set of colors. But unfortunately, we seem to be the only ones who think so. I had visions of “comic book” colors and expected to have no problem finding room accents in those colors. And I could find red and aqua, just not together!  And although single color or coordinating items were fine, I really wanted a few things with all the colors to pull the room together. In particular, I was looking for some throw pillows.

Not finding what I was looking for, I decided to make my own, and using TCW stencils is a FAB-ulous way to make any project uniquely yours. I was able to “print” my own fabric, in my choice of colors and designs, using TCW stencils and ColorBox Crafter’s Ink.

I selected stencils with bold, graphic designs for this project: Mini Peacock Pattern – TCW 379s and Mini Kaleidoscope – TCW 347s.

Here’s my finished pillow…

TCW - pillow - tamisanders wm

To create my fabric, I cut pieces of canvas, just slightly larger than the 6 X 6 TCW stencils, and used masking tape to temporarily adhere the fabric and stencil to my work surface…

tcw - tape stencil - tamisanders (1024x786)

This step is important as you don’t want the stencil or the fabric to move while you ink it.

Next, ColorBox Crafter’s Ink was used to ink the design onto the fabric. Work slow, in small circles, being careful not to move the stencil. Also remember to keep the application of the ink VERTICAL, that way there is less chance of getting the ink under the stencil. Depending on your fabric and stencil choices, you might need to apply the ink in a dabbing motion. Test and experiment to see what works best before working on your actual project pieces…

TCW - ink stencil - tamisanders (1024x729)

You can use and blend several colors together to create a soft, colorful design. But I wanted this throw pillow to be very clean and graphic, so I used only one color per section. Stone and Night ColorBox Crafter’s Inks were used for the pieces done with the Mini Peacock Pattern Stencil and Fire and Aruba Inks were used for the Mini Kaleidoscope stencil sections. I did vary the intensity of color though by pressing harder to transfer more ink in some areas, and pressing lighter in other areas to transfer less ink…

TCW - inked stencil - tamisanders (1024x720)

Once the design is totally inked, gently remove tape at corners and carefully pull up stencil. I’ve found that if I leave the tape on one corner, I can use it to lift the stencil. Here’s my finished aqua piece…

TCW - stenciled fabric - tamisanders (1024x749)

Once all your pieces are inked, heat set them if using ColorBox Crafter’s Ink, or follow directions on your product to set the ink and make it permanent.

The pieces were then stitched together to make a 11 X 11 square. I decided to use a piece cut from the leg of some jeans my son had outgrown for the back of the pillow, and stuffed it with poly pulled out of a worn out bed pillow that I was going to get rid of. A vintage coat button was adhered to the center of the pillow using Beacon’s Fabri-Tac as a finishing touch.

I was SO happy with how my “custom” pillow turned out! I can’t wait to use TCW stencils to make some MORE DECOR for my kid’s rooms!

An added bonus was how economical it was to create this project – have you SEEN the price of throw pillows?!

Take a look around your house and see what you can reuse, repurpose and upcycle, then pull out your stencils from The Crafter’s Workshop and transform them into something incredible!

Thanks!

 

 

www.tamisanders.com

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