Custom DIY Hand Stamped Pillow

Hello there, I’m Marie from a crafty blog called The Inspiration Vault and I’m thrilled to share my guest post with you on Sheri’s blog today. I completely admire Sheri’s skills with woodworking, not to mention all of her other crafty talents, so I wanted to make sure I brought you something familiar like DIY pillows, but using a technique she hasn’t featured yet. I hope you enjoy seeing how easy it is to make your own Custom Hand Stamped Pillow.

Supplies for hand stamped pillow:

Light Colored Pillow with Smooth Fabric
OR Pillow Cover
Fabric Ink Pad
Fabric Ink Foam Stamp
Iron

I’ll start by saying I intended to stamp a pillow cover, but couldn’t find what I was looking for and I happened to fall in love with this specific pillow, so I decided to experiment and try to stamp the pillow directly. I had crafty anxiety before I placed the first stamp, but once I loved what I saw, it was a breeze to finish.

If you are stamping a pillow cover, just make sure it is smoothed down flat and that you place a barrier inside to keep the ink from soaking through, then you can go to town. Be sure you place the stamp straight down onto the fabric without rocking it, then pull it straight back up.

Step One: Ink Your Stamp

Stamping an actual pillow is far trickier, but it’s totally do-able. Make sure you have plenty of the fabric ink on the stamp and try to keep it from getting too much extra ink along the edges.

Step Two: Hand Stamp Your Pillow

With the pillow laying flat on your table, place the inked stamp straight down where you want it without wiggling it, holding it in place with one hand.

Slide your other hand underneath the back of the pillow to right under the stamp and push up. Imagine you’re squishing a sandwich together. Try to push up on all the different areas of the stamp to make sure the ink transfers.

Then, just lift the stamp straight up from the pillow. That’s your first stamp! I know that there are some visible edge marks and a bit of double exposure on some of the flowers, but I decided it worked for this particular flower stamp and the vibe I was going for anyway.

Now just repeat that in the pattern you desire. I recommend practicing on paper or a scrap piece of fabric to get a solid idea of the pattern you’re shooting for.

You’ll notice it gets easier to stamp the images and they get a bit darker as you move towards the outer edges of the pillow. That totally worked for me since it created a sort of ombre effect.

Step Three: Iron Your Pillow

Once the ink is completely dry, make sure you iron the stamped images on the pillow to set the ink. Use a setting that is compatible with your pillow fabric and follow the ironing instructions on the ink pad. Also, be sure to place a cloth between the iron and the pillow before ironing.

Finished!

This Custom Hand Stamped Pillow was my first project using a fabric ink pad instead of fabric paint and I am completely in love with how easy it is to work with. I tried using regular crafting ink before on some linen napkins, but it faded a lot after washing. This ink is designed specifically for fabric, so as long as you set it with an iron, it should hold up well to washing.