UFC + subway art = home decor?

So, this craft was totally inspired by my hubby. But first off, I have to give props to him.  Remember in this post, I talked about our Valentine's Day, and how he bought me the wall decal and shower curtain I asked for? When he got home last night, he told me to close my eyes. And before I opened them, he told me "I hate that none of your Valentine's presents were a surprise for you. So I wanted to get you something that you weren't expecting, just from me." And when I opened them, I found this. 

I've been saying that I want a dremel for a while. Yay for surprises! And can I get a "what what!" for a husband that actually listens to me when I talk. And because I know he actually reads my blog... love you baby! My mind is already churning with crafts I can do with it.

Now on to our regularly scheduled programming.

You know, I see a lot of beautiful rooms in Blogland, in magazines, on TV, etc. I mean, seriously, they're gorgeous. White and cream colors with pops of pink or turquoise. China plates displayed on the wall and little ceramic birds on top of doilies on the end tables. But what I don't see? Any shred of evidence that a guy even lives there.

When I buy or make stuff for the house, I really try to keep my hubby in mind. I mean, I want him to feel like this is his home, and he's not just a tenant in MY home.

I originally saw these pillows over at Sew Dang Cute, and really fell in love with the burlap and red subway art one. I mean, swoon! Gorgeous, right?

She has a really great tutorial that uses iron on transfer paper, but I make mine a bit differently. I'm a rebel like that.

We're not coffee drinkers, so I wanted to make a version that involved something that hubby and I love. And that ended up being UFC. So the first thing I did was talk to hubby and get together a list of our favorite fighters. I sized it at 17x17 and did one inch margins. What does the 83 stand for, you ask? I told you here that we went and watched UFC on our wedding night, right? It was UFC 83 that we watched.

So I had hubby print it at work, since he could print on 11x17 paper. He had to print it on two pages, but those were easy enough to tape together. 

I didn't use iron on transfer paper, and while her method would be faster, I don't have a great printer, nor do I have transfer paper. So I use what I have on hand, which is freezer paper. I had a heck of a time finding it when I was shopping for it a few months ago, I couldn't find it at Walmart. And here I thought that Walmart had everything? I did end up finding it at a grocery store called Tom Thumb, I think this huge roll cost me $9. 

So, our next step is to rip off a sheet that's larger than our paper. Then I taped the printed paper to the freezer paper so it wouldn't shift, and started cutting out my letters with my exacto knife. 

And then repeat this 647 million more times until all your letters are cut out. 

So after you get the cramp out of your hand from holding the exacto knife for so long, you'll get out your cutting board and your fabric, and cut your fabric to size. I got this fabric at Hobby Lobby for $3 a yard. It's almost like canvas, but has a lot more texture to it, but it's not quite burlap. It's pretty cool.

Next, you'll get out your ironing board, and iron the freezer paper stencil to the fabric, shiny side down. The heat causes the freezer paper to stick to the fabric.

Next, I brought it outside and started putting on light coats of spray paint. Yes, you can use spray paint, you don't have to use fabric paint. You'll just want to make sure to let it completely dry so it doesn't smell like paint. After a day or so, you can't even smell the paint. I read about spray paint on fabric on another craft forum I frequent, and I love the results. It's less "hey, I painted on my fabric, look at my craft project" than using craft paint (even if you add textile medium). I think it gives it more of a screen printed look.

And then after 6 or 7 light coats, I lost count. 

After letting it dry, I took off the freezer paper. It comes off really easily, just rip it off. Just be careful on the edges if your fabric likes to fray.

I do run an iron on the back of my fabric after I've pulled off the freezer paper. I don't know if this actually does anything for it, but I figure, you heat set a bunch of other stuff, might as well do this too.

I did end up with a few spots that bleed under the paper, but I like it. Adds to the charm, right? Mistakes = charm

 Then it's just as simple as pinning the two pieces of fabric, right sides, together, and sewing it. Remember to leave a hole on one side so you can flip it inside out and stuff it with your pillow. 

It helps to clip the corner after it's sewn, it makes the corner look nicer when you flip it. Make sure you don't clip thru the seam. I did two rows of stitching, one at a quarter inch and one at half inch. I did that because the fabric wanted to fray, and I didn't want it pulling apart after it was stuffed. 

Then it's just as simple as flipping it right side out. And I just noticed that hubby's MMA hand wraps are sitting on the ottoman. Fitting, huh? I use a chopstick to work the corners out (no matter how many times hubby tells me that our nice chopsticks aren't for crafting).

Then you'll want to stuff it with your pillow form. I happened to have an extra one laying around. Not because I spilled a coke on it and ruined the pillow cover. Nope, nothing like that. 

Then you'll sew up the hole in the bottom.  And VOILA! Gorgeousness ensues!

And then make your hubby show off the pillow in his best "tough guy" pose. That's a crucial step.

* Make sure you keep the inside parts of the open letters (letters like O, Q, R, P, etc). You can then iron these pieces on when you are ironing the stencil onto your fabric.

* I use another piece of freezer paper on the back of my fabric. I iron it on before I spray paint so the fabric is sandwiched in between both pieces. Keeps the spray paint from getting on the wrong side of my fabric if the wind blows.

* If you are going to do the above option, I would iron on the back piece first. I think when I ironed on the back piece, the heat caused my stencil to bubble a bit, which may have caused it to not have such a great seal, which caused a couple of the letters to bleed a bit. 

* When you're spray painting, don't hold your spray paint can at an angle. If you have any areas of the stencil that didn't adhere, the spray paint will go under your stencil edges, causing the letters to bleed.

* Put your favorite UFC Fighters/coffee types/etc in the middle of the pillow. Hubby's favorite fighter is Wanderlei (Silva) and I put his name on the bottom so it could be the biggest. But when the pillow is stuffed, you can't easily read the names on the outer edges.

Are you going to make one?

Time to par-tay!