EASY, no-sew fall subway art pillow

This post is sponsored by Martha Stewart Crafts/Plaid and BluePrint Social.

Ok, I couldn’t resist… I completed my first fall project.  I know… I know some of you really want to wait until after Labor Day until you decorate for fall, or even think about fall, and I usually do too.  But September is just next week!  So I thought I might get a head start on some projects so I can be ready to decorate and jump into all things fall in the next few weeks.  And I got to play with some new Martha Stewart crafting products too!

I am in LOVE with this pillow!  I love all the subway art that floats around blogland and Pinterest and I really thought it would be neat if I could incorporate that somehow into a pillow.  I thought about stenciling/painting some words on to a pillow or fabric or trying to print on fabric and then sewing a pillow cover…  But then I found the perfect candidate! 

A $0.98 towel at Wal-mart!

I came home and dug through my stash of pillow forms intending to make a DIY envelope pillow cover.  But then I found this orange pillow that I bought for $0.50 at Value Village and intended to actually just use as a pillow form inside of a pillow.  But it was perfect for a fall pillow!

Now you are probably thinking… that is great but how are you going to get the towel attached to the pillow without sewing it?

I recently received a box with a bunch of Martha Stewart craft supplies in it and couldn’t wait to try them out.  Because Martha Stewart has just released a new decoupage line and this one is special because it is designed specifically to work on fabric! 

You can adhere fabric to fabric using this product and it is a washable glue and sealer.  The Martha Stewart line (which can be found at Michael’s) even includes some fabric cutouts and small packages of lace that you can use to embellish onto other fabric – think memo boards, pillows, wall art, embellishing clothes/bags/shoes … the possibilities are endless!

I used the Matte finish but the Oilcloth finish is pretty fantastic too – it creates a shiny, oilcloth finish on any fabric you use it on.

So first I needed to cut the towel into a square.

I found a place in the design where I could make a nice straight cut and center the design.

Perfect!  It fit right in the center of the pillow!

To use the Martha Stewart fabric-to-fabric matte finish decoupage you need to apply the product to the the back of the object you are gluing on and also onto the fabric itself. 

I used the brushes to paint on a thin layer of product making sure the edges were coated well and then adhered the towel to the front of the pillow.  The instructions say to let that dry for 1 hour, then you can seal it.  I maybe could have left it just adhered and not sealed it but I worried that the edges may come loose.

You can do 1-2 coats to seal it – over the entire cutout and the fabric you are gluing it too.  Let it dry for 3-4 hours between coats.  This is right after I painted it on.  It dries clear, has a little bit of a stiff feel, and a little sheen to it.

Seriously it took NO time at all to use the decoupage to adhere the towel to the pillow and then seal it once it was dry.  It probably took me longer to cut out the towel and get it nice and straight. 

I love that I now have a subway art pillow and it was simple and easy to make and only cost me $1.50!

Definitely getting me itching to decorate for fall!

Have you ever used decoupage on fabric? 

You can check out the entire Martha Stewart decoupage crafting line here.  And also follow Plaid (the makers of the Martha Stewart line) on facebook, Twitter,  Pinterest, and they even a blog you can follow here. 

And for even more inspiration, check out some of these other Martha Stewart decoupage projects!