A couple of Christmases ago I got a text from Jared with a picture of a pillow. It was from a designer Orange County boutique super expensive and ridiculously overpriced and his sister fell head over heels in love with it. CAN U MAKE THIS? It said. :scoff: :pshaw: Can I make this. Please. Don’t make me laugh. Not only can I make this, anyone can make this.
Cut your fabric to the size of the pillow you want to make. I think mine is 18 x 18, but literally any shape can be made without trouble. Then draw your pattern on it by tracing circular dishes. I like how it looks with large and small circles overlapping together.
Use a heat tool to set your rhinestones in place. There’s no magic whatsoever. Just lay out your rhinestones along the circles you’ve drawn, space them out evenly, and use the heat tool to stick them down.
To make the envelope closure for your pillow, cut two pieces of fabric the same length as your pillow front and half the width, plus two inches. Hem one side of each of those pieces, then lay them right sides on top of the right side of your pillow front. Line up the edges with the front piece so that the hemmed sides overlap, and sew all around all four sides. Turn them right side out and stuff your pillow form inside.
These work best as decorative accents in places where they won’t get a lot of use. The rhinestone glue is far from perfect and the rhinestones can pop off over time or with a lot of wear and tear. Leave the netflix binges to the knit pillows and let these just add the bling.
This is one of my favorite parts of being a craft educator. People act like it’s magic to know how to do things yourself, when really it’s just about knowing what tools exist and what they do. If you can curl your hair you can make some blinged out pillows. You just had to know that a heat tool exists. And now you do, so there’s no limit to the bling you can bring into your life.
Another love, love, love! I just worked with rhinestones today, and I'm kind of excited to think about a new project ….
Tell me about the rhinestones, please. Where do you get them? Do they come covered in glue? Is that a special rhinestone heat tool or is it like a glue gun you can use with other crafts? Thanks.