It’s that time of year when love and romance just fills the air so how embarrassing would it be if you got caught without a heart pillow in your house? So embarrassing. But whats even more embarrassing is when its heart overkill. I actually did this DIY 4 months ago and I’m actually a bigger fan of it when it’s not Valentines day (its a little on the nose) but it seemed like such a good time to post about it, so I hoarded the post til now.
So with the help of my friend and designer Samantha Gluck, we designed and made these pretty adorable and subtle pillow if I do say so myself. Check em out, folks!
Rubber $5.49, tracing paper $3.09, velvet pillowcase (we already had this one but this one could work) , lino carver $8.50, spray bottle, pencil and iron.
1. First you need to make your stamp. Draw your desired shape or design onto tracing paper. You could also use a store-bought stamp if you have one you like. If you go that route, skip ahead to step four.
2. Lay your tracing paper graphite side down onto your blank rubber stamp block and trace your pattern onto the back side of the tracing paper. This will push the graphite on the original side of the tracing paper onto the stamp block. Remove your tracing paper.
3. With your pattern now transferred onto the stamp block, use a lino cutter tool to carve away the excess rubber from the block. Your pattern will be left as the smooth, raised portion, which in our case was a heart.
4. Lay your stamp block with the pattern facing up on your ironing board. (TIP: you may find it helpful to lay something rigid, like a board, under your stamp to counteract some of the ironing board’s cushiness). Prepare your velvet by misting it with some water. Don’t soak the fabric, just get it a bit damp. Lay the velvet over the stamp block with the knap side of the velvet facing the block.
Turn your iron to a medium-high setting, but turn off the steam. Press the iron onto the velvet and hold it for 10-15 seconds. If you’re using a homemade stamp, beware of pressing the iron onto the fabric for too long. Sometimes the heat of the iron can start to melt the block and cause some of the rubber to stick to your velvet. Try pressing for 10 seconds, removing the iron so the fabric and block can cool slightly, then press for another 10 seconds. Repeat until your pattern is embossed into the velvet. (TIP: if you’re embossing a larger patter, avoid the steam holes on your iron as they can get embossed into the velvet. You could try using a dry iron in this case, which has no steam holes).
5. Slowly remove the velvet from the stamp block and allow it to cool completely.
This is a project with a lot of possibilities. We had a really pretty velvet pillow on hand, so we used that for our project. But this could easily be applied in other situations, like maybe along the edge of velvet curtain panels for example, or hell, even that velvet gown that you’ve been wanting to make for a long time.
Obviously if the iconic heart is not your thing you could do crosses (not a crucifix kinda cross although I’m sure you could do that, too), or a simple triangle, circles/polka dots, lines, or even Guy Fieri’s profile – kinda whatever you want. Actually I highly recommend Guy Fieri’s profile, make sure to include the sun glasses on the back of his head, that would be an amazing Valentines day present.
Meanwhile pick up February’s Redbook Magazine where this pillow DIY was featured. Thanks Sam for helping on this project and Tessa Neustadt for shooting it!