Every time I walk out to my pool, I smile at my new pillow. You may have seen this Pool Rules pillow on Uncommon Designs a few weeks ago but in case you didn’t, I wanted to share the tutorial here as well!
Last summer, I saw the cutest wood pool sign in the Pottery Barn catalog. I fell in love with it and wanted to DIY it but I really don’t have a great spot to hang a sign by my pool. Instead, I turned it into this bright pillow!
To make one, you’ll need a pillow form and a solid colored outdoor fabric cut to the measurements of your pillow. I used a 14-inch pillow form and cut my fabric 14.5 inches by 34 inches. To form an envelope pillow, you want to leave a small seam allowance on the sides and allow for an overlap of the closure at the back.
When making homemade pillows, I almost always go with an envelope style. It takes five minutes to stitch it up and is simple even for a beginning sewer.
For this project, I wanted to stencil the text first but needed to make sure it was centered properly so I used pins to mark where I’d fold the fabric when I stitched it up.
I used my cutting machine to make a stencil out of vinyl, copying the text from the Pottery Barn sign.
I centered it on the fabric and painted through the stencil with outdoor paint that can withstand the elements {I used Patio Paint by DecoArt}. A word of caution: be sure to use a dabbing/pouncing technique with just a bit of paint on your brush or pouncer so paint won’t seep under the stencil. I kept adding more and more paint until the letters were filled in but just did a light coat on the brush each time.
I used white paint so it would show well against the fabric but added a fun colored ampersand at the bottom.
Once the paint was dry, I was ready to stitch up the pillow. You’ll want to finish the short edges of the fabric. I serged one end, folded it under, and stitched it but left the other selvage edge plain. I love shabby and I decided to use the selvage edge rather than cover it up.
Fold the top down, then fold the bottom up and stitch both sides. Remember that whatever edge is on the inside is the edge that will show on the outside when you flip it right side out. Turn the pillow right side out, push out the corners, and insert the pillow form.
This colorful pillow fits perfectly with the bright sitting area I have next to the pool and I love that it adds a bit of warmth and comfort to that space.
This is where you’ll be able to find me for much of the summer, reading a book, sipping on some iced tea, and watching my kids swim in the pool.
To see more of this outdoor space, be sure to check out my DIY umbrella table and my terracotta pot table!
Super cute!