Pottery Barn Knock-Off Pillows
I have a fun pillow makeover to share with you today!
Back in the spring I found the most amazing ginormous pillow at Rugged Wearhouse for only $5. It was a blank canvas just waiting to be transformed. I scoured Pottery Barn for inspiration pillows and stumbled across two that would look great in my living room: the poppy pillow and the lavendar monogram pillow.
Both of these pillows are embroidered and, if you've ever visited my blog, you know that I DO NOT sew. But that's okay. I had other plans to get these looks!
I used colors that would match my living room (red, olive, and gold) for each side of the pillow.
(Yes, in case you didn't realize, I put both of these designs on the same pillow. I love reversible projects!)
Let's start off with the pillow itself. Like I said, its ginormous! 2 ft x 2 ft. Seriously!
Next up, let's talk about the poppy side of the pillow.
I remember (way back in the day) in high school doing a very fun project in my Spanish class involving Huichol yarn art. Its a technique of creating a design using yarn and moving the yarn in such a fashion as to give your artwork movement. I loved it! And thought it would be perfect for this project.
I scoured several stores looking for the "right" yarn. I tried to find some that looked crocheted to match the Pottery Barn pillow better, but ended up finding this fun ribbed yarn in all of the right colors.
I printed off a full 8.5" x 11" image of the pillow to use as a guide, found a starting point on my pillow, and proceeded to draw out my first poppy.
I drew one poppy at a time, filling each in with yarn befor moving on to the next because adding the yarn actually made the image slightly larger than the original drawing. I didn't want to mess up my spacing and wind up overlapping my images!
Also, I only drew the outline of the red part of the poppy because I knew it would eventually be completely covered with yarn in the end and the marker would never be seen.
I adhered all of my yarn with my favorite fabric adhesive, Fabri-Tac from Beacon.
(This stuff is seriously amazing. Better than a glue gun!! I swear!)
The turquoise line in the above photo represents the outline of the flower (where I drew it with the marker). I always did the outline of the flower first with the yarn then went back and filled it in the rest.
The orange line with arrows represents how I filled in my yarn. There was no specific technique. I just wanted to create movement by keeping the yarn in what would look like a swirly manner.
After finishing a flower with the red yarn, I went back and outlined it with the green yarn. I saved the stems and leaves until the end so I would not overlap them with any of the flowers I had yet to create.
I stopped periodically to compare my version to the Pottery Barn printout and check out my progress.
I was really starting to see it come together!
After finishing with the red and green yarn, I went back to fill in the centers of the fabric with the gold yarn. I tied a knot in the yarn then, to thicken it, tied two more knots on top of the original knot. I trimmed off the knots and layered them in the centers of some of the flowers.
I love the texture the yarn adds to the pillow.
I ended up leaving off the little flowers that Pottery Barn scattered around the pillow.
I really like the extra white space and the asymmetric look.
For the monogram side of the pillow, I took some liberties from the Pottery Barn version and instead of using a lavendar plant, I used a poppy floral design to help tie it into the reverse side of the pillow.
I created the design on my computer then separated the images into two so I could cut them out using my Silhouette.
I cut my images out on freezer paper to iron on and use as a stencil. I ironed down the floral design first. The little detail images in the poppies were so tiny that I just left them off. I did, however, keep the detail images in the smaller flowers.
I still had all of my acrylic paint from my Custom Wall Art project from last year which is also in my living room so I already had on hand the paint colors I would need. I mixed the paint with some acrylic paint fabric medium and went to work.
Once the floral design was dry, I went back and ironed on the M freezer paper stencil and painted it also.
This side of the pillow literally only took a couple of hours to complete, including drying time. Whereas the poppy side of the pillow took a good 6 hours or so!
Can you see that I traced around the M with a fabric pen?
Since my pillow was prestuffed with no way of getting the stuffing out without ripping out threads and resewing, I just painted on a stuffed pillow. Probably not the greatest for freezer paper stenciling, but it worked okay. I just used the fabric pen to tidy up the edges of my monogram.
So let's do a tally!
Pottery Barn Poppy Pillow: $49
Pottery Barn Lavendar Pillow: $29
Total: $78
--------
Pillow: $5
Yarn: ~$4 each so $12
Glue: $5
Paint and Medium: $4
Freezer Paper: $5
Fabric Pen: $4
Total: $35
I had the paint, freezer paper, and fabric pen on hand already so really my total could be ~$22!
Not bad, especially considering it is completely customized to match my living room!
Note: I do not let my children near this pillow. Just in case, you know? 🙂
Thank you for sharing on Wonderful Wednesday, it has been pinned and shared on Instagram.
Please stop by and share again!
Have a great week!
Really neat idea! The pillow turned out perfect. Happy Crafting, Kippi #kippiathome
WOW! I am so impressed with this pillow!! I don't think I would have the patience to do something like this, but it's incredible.
AMAZING!
April, I don't let anyone on the pillow! Its strictly for decpr. The monogram side would be fine to lay on, but the yarn side wouldn't be able to hold up to day-to-day use. My pillow still looks great today! 🙂
So a year later how have they held up? I think your poppy pillows are much better than the original. Gorgeous. I thought about using the monogramming on my comforter as it has a big empty spot in the middle. Will it hold up to everyday use? Also, did the yarn hold up? I have 5 small children and I envision a big fuzzy mess from all the contact.
I just stumbled on this because of pinterest and I LOVE it. I loved that pottery barn poppy pillow but honestly, I like yours better. I had totally forgotten about that technique and can't wait to design something for my own living room. Thanks for the inspiration!
Whoa. One can only imagine what you COULD do with a sewing machine! You need to give it a try someday, but in the meantime, you have yourself some awesome pillows! Great job!
Ellen
Gonna have to knock-off your knock-off...really cute. Coming to you from the CSI link up challenge...good luck.
Carmen @ RoCa and Company
Scrumptious! Love the poppy pillow!
You have definitely improved on the original! Beautiful!
Cheryl
http://ldsmomtomany.blogspot.com/2011/02/knock-off-pottery-barn-chunky-linen.html
Your version is even prettier than Pottery Barn's, I think. A great tutorial! If you could add a link back to me too, I'd really appreciate it. 🙂
wow-I've never heard of fabri-tac or this yarn process-it is amazing and your tutorial is incredible-I'm your newest follower!!
Hi Michele. I just came over from Knock Off Decor and this pillow is fantastic. I really like yours better then the original. Kudos to you for even trying to replicate it much less doing such a fabulous job!Hugs...Tracy 🙂
VERY cool and super creative!!! I like yours better than PB's!!
Found you from tatertots & jello!
Happy new year! xoxo
(I'm a new follower!)
What a great idea! I can't wait to try it.
WHOA!!! Very impressive! I'll remember this one for sure!
This is the first time that I have visited your fantastic blog and I am impressed! Not only is this pillow easy to make( your directions were so user-friendly) it's really classy! I will return!!
Amazing! Really fabulous!
Absolutly fabalous..... first when I saw the poppy pillows io thought of Latch hook work .. but as I read I feel it more easy and super super end results. Marvellous...I wiil try it soon... I am your newsest follower.
Hope you would like to spare a little bit to me at
http://craftaworld.blogspot.com/
Love Farah
Wow!
Just coming over from CSI!
Love your pillow!!
carrie @ http://www.creativecarrieregan.blogspot.com
This is terrific. I love the yarn side of the pillow. I may have to borrow this technique for my family room!
This is probably the most creative pillow I've ever seen! You did an amazing job! You should give yourself a huge pat on the back. Well not too huge cause that might hurt a bit!!!!! : )
wow, glue and yarn, you're brilliant! I'd love it if you'd stop by my crafty linking party Craft Schooling Sunday with the poppy pillow today or tomorrow...it's a really great get together and we'd love to have you @creativejewishmom.com
Hi, Michele! I found you through LambAround. I LOVE your pillows. I can't believe this was your first knock off project and I can definitely see why you will be doing more. I especially love the way the yarn turned out on the poppy pillow - just beautiful!
Holly
Making the pillow reversible is such a nifty idea. Amazing how you really did make them look nearly identical to the Pottery Barn pillows too with something everyone could do. The side with the flowers is espcially nice, though both sides look good.
way better than PB's!
This is awesome! I actually like your verision much better then the Pottery Barn one! Thanks for sharing...I'm pretty sure I will be on a continual hunt now for the perfect pillows!
I think those are awesome!
I'd love it if you entered the Copycat Challenge that I'm hosting, this would be a great entry and the prizes are fabulous! You can go here for details:
http://sewmuchado-reviews.blogspot.com/2010/10/copycat-challenge-details.html