Silk Screen Holiday Pillow Cover

Don’t you love pillows? I love swapping out accent pillows with each season to give a room a fresh look, but I don’t love the steep prices on pillows! Storing multiple pillows is also a problem, I just don’t have the room. Making customized pillow covers is a fabulous and economical solution! Did you know that you can make pillow covers with cloth napkins and embellish them any way you like?! I made a very simple silk screened holiday pillow cover for less than $3.

Plaid asked me to try out their Simply Silk Screen Kit. This kit allows YOU to customize your design straight from your computer or even a hand drawing! No outsourcing needed! The kit comes with screens in 3 sizes and refill screen packs are available. No transparencies are needed, nor do you have to reverse your image as in traditional silk screening. The ink is also acrylic and non-toxic. The screens can be used multiple times too. Currently the kit can be found at Hobby Lobby.

How to Use the Simply Screen Kit:

1. Read all the directions carefully and follow EXACTLY, or your results will not be satisfactory.
2. I chose and printed out a graphic black and ornament design from MS Word program on my computer.
3. I trimmed the paper to the size of the screen, removed the photosensitive screen from it’s bag and laid my design, print side down on the screen.
4. I laid the design and screen in the bottom of the kit box and scotch taped the sides down. Next all air bubbles were smoothed out, the kit box was shut, and the light bulb included in the kit was turned on and left to expose the screen in the box for 25 minutes. I left mine in for 40 because I was using thicker copy paper than what was recommended by the manufacturer. For best results only use 10 lb. weight copy paper.
5. After the exposure time was done, I removed the screen and washed off the emulsion until my design  fully appeared. Don’t over rub or you might rub off your design. You can use clear glue and a fine tipped paintbrush to touch up an rough edges if you have them. I also recommend using bold designs and fonts vs. fine, detailed script.

Now is the fun part! The napkins were purchased for under $3! I taped one cloth napkin down on the counter, placing a piece of paper under it to protect the surface from bleed through.  Placing the screen where I wanted it, I secured it with tape. A thick line of the silk screen paint was placed along the top of the screen and the paint was pulled downward along the screen.

The screen was then removed. The fabric was allowed to dry later heat pressed for permanency.

Assemble Holiday Pillow Cover

Place the two napkins back to back and sew it together along the top and both sides. Leave the bottom open. If you prefer a no-sew pillow option, you can use fabric glue or fusible bonding tape. At the bottom of the pillow, iron on several hook and loop fastener tabs.

Now you can insert any accent pillow into your Silk Screen Holiday Pillow Cover!

This kit could be a helpful if you want to make multiple pillow covers for gifts! More ideas can be found at Plaid’s DIY Simply Screen. When the holidays are over I can simply take off the removable cover or add a new pillow cover!

Kim

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Plaid supplied me with product and compensation to review. All expressed opinions are completely my own.

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