Hey, Decocrators and Deco Hackers! It’s Crystal, your Queen of Hacks here with a new Spring 2021 project! Last time I made a jewelry trays out of the framed floral prints. This time, I’m hacking the floral pillowcase. I’ve never been disappointed with a Decocrated pillowcase. Just like the other pillow covers from past boxes, and this season’s Easter box, this one is great quality. It’s so cute and soft and I was excited to receive it, but my husband says we have too many pillows on the sofa and there’s nowhere to sit.  Personally, I think you can’t have too many pillows…until your husband starts tossing them all in the floor! Sigh, oh well, moving on.

I needed to think of a different way to display this cute pillowcase rather than stuff it in a closet to be forgotten. My favorite part of the design is the little insects. Now I’m no lover of bugs, and the bees make me think of being chased by them in the summertime, and how allergic I am, but these little guys are cute! You’ll see what I did to make the butterfly, dragonfly, and bees stand out, along with the flowers. 

At first, I played around with the idea of using just the front side of the pillowcase as the bottom of a tray, coated with epoxy resin. It would have been beautiful, but I had some trouble finding a tray in the right size. In my hacks, I want to do something that anyone can easily recreate without a lot of searching or paying for a custom item so I went with wall art.

Using items to make unique wall art is my favorite thing to do, as you saw in my burlap bag hack on the #DecoHacks Facebook page, and you’ll see in a future blog. For making wall art out of fabric items, like shopping bags or pillowcases, I like to use art canvases for their versatility. But I still needed an unusual size. In general, canvases come in standard sizes like 8x10, 10x10, 11x14 and so on. To do this piece and keep the entire design intact I was going to need a 12x18 canvas. The pillowcase is 13x19 so 12x18 would leave a nice little edge to wrap around the sides. It took a little searching, but I was so excited to find a 12x18 canvas at Michaels.

So, I had everything I needed to create my vision, but I always try to go a little further and offer an additional option for my hacks. For this option, I had the idea to add dimension to the most colorful parts of the art. So, I got out one of my absolute favorite products made by Mod Podge called Dimensional Magic. Once dry, Dimensional Magic resembles epoxy resin, it’s totally clear and solid but without the mess of mixing resin. The bottle has a precision tip so it’s easy to apply only where you need it and it’s thick enough that it stays put if you don’t over use it. You can use Dimensional Magic on just about anything, but I had never used it on fabric before so I wasn’t sure how it was going to perform. I could have been about to totally wreck my new art piece but I thought what the heck, what is life without a little danger. Well, ok, so maybe that’s a little overdramatic, but you get the idea. I didn’t want to ruin my new art, so I did a little test spot on some scrap fabric. The first coat soaks into the fabric quickly and dries pretty rough, but applying a second coat does the trick. I applied the Dimensional Magic to only the parts of the design that I wanted to pop, the flowers and insects, even those pesky bees! Doing this added another point of interest to this unique piece. 

Here, I’ve listed all of the steps I took to create this unique piece of art. Even if you don’t add the extra dimension, the finished product is still beautiful!

What you’ll need:

• Spring 2021 floral pillowcase
• 12x18 canvas
• Fabric glue
• Flat spatula or putty knife
• Staple gun
• Scissors

Optional:

Mod Podge Dimensional Magic

Steps

1. Zip the pillowcase closed and cut a hole in the center of the back.  
2. Cut four lines in a cross on the back of the pillowcase stopping about a quarter inch from the seam on all four sides. It’s best to stop farther away from the seam and cut more if you need to rather than making your cuts too close to the seam.
3. Turn the corners of the pillowcase inside out
4. Spread the fabric glue evenly on the canvas using a spatula or putty knife. Fabric glue is very sticky and forms a strong bond quickly, so when I use it I apply in sections to keep everything lined up. It’s very difficult to readjust once the whole piece is stuck.  
5. Turn the canvas over so that the pillowcase is face down on a flat surface. Rub your hand over the back side of the canvas fabric to smooth out any uneven glue. 
6. Slowly and carefully turn each of the corners right side out, folding them over the canvas. It will be snug so go slowly to minimize tearing the fabric.
7. Lay the picture face down again. Staple the fabric to the canvas frame on all four sides pulling it tight as you go and cut off the excess. I used some fabric glue on the back side in addition to the staples. The soft fabric on the back of the pillowcase is pretty thin under tension and I didn’t want to risk it tearing and coming undone. 
8. Optional: Add some dimension to the flowers and insects using Mod Podge Dimensional Magic. It takes two coats on fabric. Follow the directions on the bottle for drying times. Once that dries, your beautiful wall art is ready to hang.

I left the zipper pull attached to my finished project. It adds another element of interest to this unique art piece by showing that it started out as a pillowcase! Your friends will say, “What, this was a pillowcase? How did you do THAT?!”

I hope you enjoy this beautiful one-of-a-kind art piece that you can display year-round. Happy crafting and watch for my next project from the Spring 2021 seasonal box!