Simple Silhouette Pillow

I was back at the sewing machine this week with a bit less success. This time I wanted to practice piping/welting, so I went back to the envelope pillow idea and added the trim. Sweet mary, it was a lot harder than expected and the inside seams look like I made it while high on crack. But no matter, it got done. And it looked like this.

But this post isn't about making a pillow, its about making a Silhouette Pillow!! So either you can sew your own pillow cover or buy one readymade, it makes no difference. This is all so simple I even feel a little silly "explaining" it.

Now on to the silouette part. In my case, I had them in digital format because I had made them for our 2007 Christmas mailing as seen here.

But if you are like most people and don't happen to have a copy of your shadowy form, no worries - I'll explain how to do it at the bottom of this post.

The original intention was to take these and make fabric appliques. I spent a ridiculous amount of time transferring and painstakingly cutting out shapes, etc.. only to realize there is NO WAY I can sew a zigzag stitch around the detail. (Im sure there is a way for a better seamstress, I just couldn't get it.) So I scraped that plan for a much easier solution. IRON ON FABRIC TRANSERS!

The next step was to print the silouettes out on a single sheet of iron on paper and cut out. That took about 15 minutes.

And yes, that is our cat! Got a problem with it????

Following the directions on the back of the iron on package, I affixed each head carefully. Before it completely cooled, I peeled the paper off. I know the package says to wait but in my experience, you get better coverage when the ink is still hot. That took another 10 minutes.


I stuffed the pillow inside and I was done. Hurrah. Finally a fun project that didn't take all afternoon.


Because this was so simple and straight forward, I know I'm going to be making these again. You can do all sorts of shapes aside from floating heads - pretty much anything you can cut out will work.


Postscript about making your own silhouettes: If you google this, you'll find loads of tutorials but I'm going to give you quick and dirty one now. Trust me, this really is simple! The first thing you should do is take a photo of your subject against a white or constrasty background. Any wall will do. You can do this in your pajamas and in your nightime mask if you want...just make sure your hair is reasonably in shape. All you are aiming for is the outside line. (For chidlren or pets, you'll probably need to hold them for a second to get the profile shot off but thats okay, no one will know!) Print out the photograph and trace along the outside edge of your hair, neck and face. Feel free to add in or take out what you don't like. (Be gone flyaway hairs or double chin!) Now take your iron on transfer paper and print out a big black rectangle large enough to fit your traced head in. Place the photograph over the black rectangle and using a sharp scissors, cut along the details carefully. Guess what? You now have your very own head ready to iron on to a pillow. See, I told you that was easy!!