DIY Iron On Transfer "Lucky" Pillow for St. Patrick's Day

Having never tried iron on transfer foil paper before, my go to is typically paint, this was a new experience for me. It’s worth a shot to try something new and test out a product. Especially if doing so could help out any of you.

While at the fabric store, a glittery cream cotton fabric with gold flecks caught my eye. It got me thinking about a design for my front porch pillows that would help celebrate St. Patrick’s day. Not one to get caught up in the overly cute leprechaun or rainbow themed decorations, a simple text design was more my style.

So, I printed out a fun font that spelled LUCKY (PDF link below) and used the gold metallic foil iron on transfer on top of the gold glitter fabric and with a fun gold fringe. Layering the cream and gold pillows with a bold green -that can be used other times of the year- helps to set off the pillows on the front porch.

Listed below are the supplies, instructions, and any tips I learned along the way. Of course, you don’t have to add a zipper to the pillow cover like I did. However, adding a zipper makes changing the pillow sham easier. It is especially easy if you change up the look of the front porch for each season or holiday.

PSA 😉

By the way, are you enjoying the lack of pop up ads on this blog? That is no coincidence. I hate pop up ads, they are annoying. So instead of bugging you with a million pop ups, I became an Amazon associate. That means, if you use the links provided in the post to make a purchase, any purchase, I may get a percentage of the sales to keep my projects going forward. Also, if I can generate enough revenue from the associated links, there will be no need for pop up ads. Thanks for the support!

Supplies

For 2 lumbar pillows:

Lumbar 12×20 Pillow Form(s)
Fabric 1 yard, depending on your pillow form size
Trim 1.5-2 yds depending on pillow size
Coordinating thread
Gold Metallic Foil Iron On Transfer Sheet
Zippers; 14 inch in Ecru
Scissors
Fabric Shears
Straight Pins
Tape Measure
Sewing Machine
Ultra Fine Tip Permanent Marker
Iron
Ironing board
Parchment paper or cotton fabric
Print out of LUCKY

Instructions

Step 1:

Begin by cutting out your fabric. If there is a directional print on the fabric that needs lining up for stripes or design to match up, cut out accordingly.

The lumbar pillow forms I have are roughly 12x 20 inches so I cut out two 24×20 inch squares. This way, I can fold over the fabric on itself instead of piecing together two separate rectangles per pillow. Either way works, it is just what I happened to do for this project.

Use fabric shears to cut out fabric, sized to fit your pillow form and accounting for seam allowances. Trace and cut out letters from the iron on transfer paper.

Step 2:

Print out the word “Lucky” from the pdf in a size that best fits your pillow. Here’s the link: Lucky

Once printed (black and white is best for high contrast) place the print out on top of the gold side of the iron on transfer paper. Line up letters as close to the edge as possible so no transfer paper is wasted. Hold the print out and then the transfer paper up to a window during the day time, or to any smooth surface where it is backlit. The word Lucky should be backwards.

On the back side of the transfer paper (it was silver for me) trace the outline of Lucky with an ultra fine tip permanent marker. Do this for each pillow; I made two pillows so I did this twice.

Cut out traced letters from the transfer paper with regular scissors.

Step 3:

Take the print out of Lucky that was used for tracing and center it under the front fabric piece for each pillow. The cotton fabric is thin enough to see the the lettering through the light layer.

TIP:

Use an ironing board as your work surface. Once everything is lined up, nothing has to be moved to iron in place.

iron on transfer pillows — Line up print out under fabric and place letters on top, using the print out as a guide for spacing.

Step 4:

Place the cut out letters on the right side of the fabric. This is the fabric that you just centered the print out under. Line the letters up carefully so they are straight and evenly spaced. Use the shadow of the print out as a guide.

Step 5:

Carefully place a thin piece of cotton fabric, or parchment paper, on top of the lettering. Be sure to lay it down slowly and without moving it around to avoid disturbing the placement of the letters. Use a hot iron on top of the layers to activate the adhesive on the transfer which will secure the letters in place.

iron on letters — Follow the directions for the iron on transfer paper and use a hot iron to adhere the letters onto the fabric.

Step 6:

Once letters are ironed in place, sew on the trim.

Line the trim base up with the seam allowance and pin in place. Be sure the edge of the trim is facing the center of the pillow.

Because I was folding over the fabric onto itself, I only needed to put trim on half of the height of each side of fabric. So I put it on 12 inches, a half inch in from the edge on the left side and then the right side of the fabric rectangle. Once folded over and sewn, the trim will be sandwiched between the fabric layers. I like to sew the trim on before sewing the layers of fabric together. This ensures the trim stays in place and no shifting occurs.

St. Patrick's day DIY decor — Measure, pin and then sew on the trim, being sure that the edge faces toward the center of the pillow.

Step 7:

Sew trim in place. Be sure to remove pins as you go. Sew along the base of the trim so it anchors properly and gets caught in the seam later when fabric pieces are sewn together.

Step 8:

Use the zipper foot attachment on your machine (check sewing machine instruction book for details) to add a zipper to the bottom seam of the pillow sham.

Easy sew pillow cover — Once trim is sewn on, add a zipper to the bottom of the pillow sham. With right side of fabric together, sew along edges and turn right side out.

Step 9:

Once the zipper is added, sew the sides of the pillow together, being sure the right sides are facing each other. Trim the corners and flip pillow sham right side out.

Insert pillow form and toss onto desired chair, bench, sofa, or bed.

Repeat the process for the second pillow, if needed.

My take away from this sewing project.

Overall, the project was pretty straight forward and simple. I made these pillows about two years ago and have put them out on the porch from end of each February until just after St. Patrick’s day. The metallic gold iron on transfer looks pretty good, but I am not 100% certain that it will hold up long term. I noticed that the edges of the lettering have pulled up a little over time and exposure to the elements. Typically, I just re-iron to set it in place but I wonder if the heat press used by serious crafters is a more durable way to go?

St. Patrick's day decorations — The gold metallic transfer has a shiny mirror finish. It looks great and is eye catching in person, but it is nearly impossible to photograph well. It is solid gold but looks mottled due to the reflections of the porch ceiling and sky.

Well, it is a good thing I make porch decorations on a regular basis so maybe the durability of the iron on transfer is less of an issue. It gives me an excuse to design another pillow for my front porch for St. Patrick’s day once this one wears out. At any rate, it was fun to try something new, get crafty and make my house a home.