Alisa Burke is a mixed-media artist, painter, designer and creative spirit. Alisa often works with canvas and has a popular book, Canvas Remix: Techniques For Creating Mixed-Media Accessories. She shares lots of wonderful tutorials, and glimpses into her creative process and her art at Alisa Burke. Today we’re so lucky to have Alisa here, showing us how to create one of a kind fabric doodle pillows. We hope Alisa’s tutorial will inspire you to create a doodle pillow of your own!
I love making my own of a kind fabric and one of the easiest ways to create a colorful surface is to use simple doodles and drawings to fill a surface. I used some of my fabric to create a simple doodle pillow.
Materials
- 1 yard of white cotton broadcloth or muslin
- Fabric markers
- One step dye or fabric paint
- Paint brushes
- Colorful thread
- Quilt batting- cut to size of pillow for front and back
- Stuffing or pillow form
I started by drawing and doodling all over the surface with fabric markers.
I added simple shapes, scribbles and marks. I used different colors and challenged myself not to worry about perfection.
Next I used a one step dye to add more color in between the doodles and designs. Fabric paint would also work.
I filled the entire surface doodles and color and let dry.
I heat set the fabric and washed it. (Depending on brand and manufacturer, the heat setting process and washing guidelines could vary.)
I cut my fabric into two pieces measuring 10″ x 12″. I also cut out two pieces of quilt batting to to back each piece. Size and shape can be adjusted.
Using colorful thread I used free motion stitching to doodle and draw right over the top of my fabric. You could use a free motion sewing foot or even a darning foot for this process.
I traced over my doodles and even added expressive and wild stitching with my machine.
Last, I sewed the front and back together with right sides facing each other. I left an opening, stuffed and then sewed the opening closed.
The result is a really fun, whimsical pillow full of color, texture and layers!
Enter our Pillow Contest! Create a pillow this month and enter to win some fabulous prizes.
You can also comment on any post this week for your chance to win one of these great prizes below, courtesy of Robert Kaufman Fabrics:
1 fat quarter pack of Betty Dear, 5 Kona Cotton color cards, 1 fat quarter pack of Night & Day in the Summer Colorstory, 10 sets of 5 Kona charm packs
» Sewing Tutorials + Patterns » Doodle Pillow Tutorial
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142 Responses to Doodle Pillow Tutorial
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Once again Alisa…amazing! Love this project, thanks for the inspiration
I’m going to have my 12 year old doodle and I’ll selfishly paint it
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I really like this project!
Wow! It looks like the coolest designer fabric ever! I might just add that to my “try out”-list!
Kirsten in Oslo
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this project. My daughter and I will making these this summer.
This is something that would be great fun with the kids!
What fun! Very inspiring, thanks
I love it! Just brilliant!
Amazing talent!
Love it…thanks for the tutorial!
Now, that is some free motion quilting I might be able to do! Love that idea.
This looks like a fun project for tweens.
quite unique
great tutorial.
That pillow is absolutely gorgeous. Definitely going on my list of things to make.
This is awesome! Thanks so much for the tutorial… I think this is something I can try out with my daughter. She would have a blast!! Not to mention what an awesome keepsake it would be
Thanks again!
Oh how lovely! I am going to have to do this with my girls!
I was so inspired I made one of my own!! What I fab idea. Thanks =)
This soooooooooooooo my type of pillow – I a ma doodler from way back but never thought of making my own fabric with my doodloing. Will definately be giving this pillow a go.
Blessings
Gail
This a beautiful piece of Art!
Oh so lovely and light and full of fun!!! Great idea!!!
Love the doodle pillow!
This is a great pillow-thanks for showing us!
WOW…this is the coolest pillow ever…all my practicing doodles while on the phone has led up to this! Will have to look for some fabric markers to make one….and will pass this idea on to my artsy daughter as well. Thanks for a great project idea!
wow. Mine would not look that good.
wow! what an amazing process! thanks for sharing.
I love this idea!
This is my fave so far, it is so unique and I absolutely love it! How inspiring!
Wow, what a creation!
I am so inspired. That is such a fantastic idea! Wow!
What a great idea! I have some fabric paint and markers, and this would definetely be a great way to use them!
This is a very cute pillow. However, I’m a bit sad that every single pillow for inspiration this month has been a square pillow. I was hoping for unique ideas and shapes such as what A.M. Horner is doing with giant flower looking pillows, floor pillows, etc.
I love your site though! Just searching for more than designs for the tops of couch pillows.
book marked & I am SOO doing it!
very creative indeed!
Next time our niece and nephew are here overnight, I think we’ll be sending them home with original works of art. Thanks!
super inspiring, thanks for this post! Now on my to-make list
This looks like a fun project that my girls and I will enjoy trying. Thank you for posting this tutorial!
Interesting. This gives me lots of ideas of ways to use this process.
OH MY I love this pillow. I love it I love it I love it.
i love this!! so creative! could be really great with kids!
I love this idea!! It’s an easy way to make a design that is totally unique!! Love it!!!
LOVE, love, love this pillow! The creative energy and the colorful design done so freely – it’s great! I’m going to give this technique a try.
this is an awesome pillow. quite a work of art. thanks
Love the paisley. When my sister & I were in elementary/middle school in the early ’90s, paisley was everywhere in the mall department stores. We loved it so much that we made up a song… “there’s pais-i-ley eve-er-ly where!” I never said we were cool.
That’s really cool, but my doodles do not look anythin like that. I though it was black and white printed fabric at first! It would be super fun for a kid to do.
Wow! That is a rockin’ pillow! Looks like a lot of fun to make.
This is too cool and truly a piece of art.
Wow, this one is different – love it!
I think that would be so cute in a teenagers room.
I love this pillow! Is it a giveaway?!
LOVE this idea – I am going to try it with my Yeat 9 Textiles class as one of their projects – cant’ wait to see what they come up with!!!
Love this pillow!! I think this would be a fun project to do as a party project with my kids!! Everyone could design their own.
Thanks for the great inspiration.
Wonderful!
Really fun! I love all the detail in it and each pillow is unique!
So fun
This is one of the coolest pillows I’ve ever seen and what a great idea! Thanks for the great tutorial!
I would have so much fun making a pillow like this. So cool
This is definitely unique — It reminds me of graffiti –But in a good way!
That is amazing–so beautiful and unique. Thanks for sharing!
I have recently gotten very into painting on fabric…now I just need to add in the doodling. I love how funky this pillow is – - perfectly unique!
I am so in love with this pillow. I’m going to be purchasing a sewing machine, and this has inspired me. I took a nap this morning envisioning all the different things I could do with fabric and paint.
That is one fantastic pillow – so artistic!
So fun and inspiring. Beautiful work!
Love this idea and what a fun pillow!
This is beautiful! I love Alisa’s work.
completley love this pillow its so expressive
Alisa Burke has great ideas. So inspiring!!! Love her blog. I might try this Pillow.
Wow how wonderful. Thank you for sharing
Fascinating technique — thanks for sharing the process with us.
Yay! This is fabulous and fun.
Oh WOW! This is such a fabulous idea!
I have used fabric markers and paint and even one step dye on tshirts with my art students. This is a whole new level and I’m dying *HA!* to try this with them.
What a fun idea! Thanks for the creative tutorial!
I had a doodle bear when I was little that I loved. I so want a pillow like this.
Wow. That is so cool, and a great way to personalize!
perfect project for my little grand daughter on the next sleepover. I will have her do the drawing and “color” ths fabric and then will finish it fir her. Great idea!
Wow! That is really neat!
I love this!
It even fits the theme of my blog
I would love to have my granddaughter help with making this pillow!
This is a really fun idea! Like you said, I would have to challenge myself not to be perfect on the design too. I think this pillow will look great on my 3 yr old’s new bed. Thanks.
I think it would be fun to have the grand children each doodle a pillow top and I could add the color I would like.
How beautiful and unique!
Wow! So cool! It’s like a little piece of artwork!
Can’t wait to try this out!
WOW! Thanks for the tutorial. That is such a cool pillow and I love how it all came together.
wow!great job!
Wow, that’s the coolest doodle I’ve ever seen. Wish I was that good of a draughtswoman!
Totally rocks.
This is so incredibly amazing and inspiring…. but if I did this all I would see is ucky mistakes. I so want to give this a try… it would be so freeing for me!
Wow – that’s one crazy pillow! Such a fun project for older kids.
this is very cool. Unfortunately, my doodle doesn’t come out as pretty as yours.
Thank you for this tutorial! This is such an inspiring project!
Love it! I think I’m going to make a piece of fabric into a matching pillow and lap quilt.
So fun! My girls would love this!
I love the effect of the various techniques. You make it look so easy!
I’ve never thought of making my own fabric! Very interesting and very colorful!
I love this!
Thanks for a great tutorial
This would be sooo great for a teenager! Thanks!!!
What an interesting concept, I have an artist daughter who would love this!
Wow!!!!! I absolutely love this!!!!!!!
That is such a cool technique! Great, fun pillow.
My artsy daughter would make a great pillow design like this!
And I’d love to win a charm pack or set of fat quarters!
A real masterpiece! Great Work.
My daughter is so into art – she would make a beautiful pillow design!
I would love to win a charm pack or a set of fat quarters!
This is such a great idea !! thanks
This is adorable! I looooove it! Thanks for sharing!
i could already see my kids letting their imagination go wild when we do this project! Thanks.
Wow! So, much fun. I agree with the poster who said it would be a great project to do with kids. I may have to make one with my son.
I love it! I need to find some of that fabric dye so I can do this.
A great unique pillow! Thank you for the great tutorial!
How fun!! I must try this.
Love the look of this pillow – so bright and cheerful!
I don’t know that I have it in me to paint my own fabric, but that is awesome.
This is fabulous. I’m afraid if I tried it, it would look like a pre-schooler did it.
amazing idea! Beautiful.
Love this tutorial! So inspiring! I’ll absoöutely give it a try.
Lotta in Sweden
This would be a great project for the kids to help with.
love it! totally inspiring ~ thanks so much for sharing it!
that’s quite an interesting pillow, would be a great project for little ones!
Ok, that’s not really my style, but it’s so cute! I could totally see doing parts of this with my kids. Wish I had a free motion foot for my sewing machine…is there another way to do this? I’ll have to go google. =) Thanks for the morning cheer!
Heather
I absolutely LOVE this idea! I’ve been coloring on my sons t-shirts lately, and this will give me even more practice with those fabric markers!
Love this idea! My 6 year old son and I will have some fun making these pillows!!
wow, this is so great! I wish I could do something like this and make it look so good!
So fun!!!
That looks like a lot of fun! I will definitely have to try this one.
Darling!
that is fantastic
Very inspiring. I love this tutorial, colorful and easy to do. I have been wanting to paint on fabric to mix in with my quilting. Can’t wait to try this out. Thank you for sharing!
What a great idea! Love it!
wow – how fun would this be for the kids!
I love this! I want to make one right now!!
Such a cool idea! I love Alisa Burke’s designs!
Great idea for making your own fabric. I will have to try this for some of my small stuffies I make.
Love this!
i love doodling!
that’s really cool! i love the look of the bright red stitching!
Thanks for the tutorial!
Fantastic pillow! A piece of art!
That’s gorgeous!!! What a creative and beautiful piece of art!
Love it! That seems like a fun project to do with kids. The painting part anyway. Hm…. thinking of mother’s day gifts…
Love this! I wish I had a darning foot though – my kids would go crazy making super cute pillows for me to quilt!
Very very original!! So cute and full of inspiration!
Wow…this pillow rocks! Now I know what my next pillow is going to be. This will be fun to do with littles as well.
that is amazing!
*So* unique — thanks for posting this, SMS!