A few years ago I stumbled across the idea of using fabric markers to personalize pillowcases. Apparently I’m not the first to discover this great idea! (above image from pinterest). And by great, I mean truly GREAT. We’ve used fabric markers on pillowcases as a party activity several times in my house. Each and every time the kids loved it. We’ve made pillowcases for slumber parties. We’ve given personalized pillowcases as gifts. And perhaps the biggest success for the pillowcase art party activity was the year we had a room full of 10 year old boys happily creating their masterpieces for over an hour!
What do you need for a successful pillowcase art party activity?
- Pillowcases – white work best
- Fabric markers – enough to share
- Magazines or catalogs to place inside the pillowcases while you work so the markers don’t bleed through
- Images for tracing
- Pencils
Before the party:
- Gather images for tracing. The latest birthday party in our house had a cupcake theme. I had my daughter google and print cupcake images. She also printed some panda images and dragon images because she knows what her friends love. 🙂
- Coloring books work amazingly well for tracing.
- Make sure you have enough images for all of your guests.
At the party:
Explain the instructions to your party guests before handing out supplies otherwise they’ll jump right in without a plan. Don’t be surprised that their plans don’t line up with the latest pinterest images you’ve seen. They will each have their own ideas and they will (generally) be absolutely in love with their ideas. Let them do their own creative thing even though it will likely not match any creative vision that you have. It will work out great. Just trust them!
- Show the guests the images available for tracing. They can use one of the images or branch out on their own. A pillowcase with their name on it is always a great option.
- To get started, have them slide a magazine inside the pillowcase – that will keep the ink from bleeding through from the front of the pillowcase to the back.
- Put the image for tracing inside the pillowcase and trace the design using pencil.
- When the image is completely traced, you can start coloring.
**fabric markers frequently bleed wider than you expect. Color a little further inside the lines than you would with regular markers to get the best end result.
That’s it! Color and have fun! When the artists are done, place the pillowcases in the dryer and run on HOT for 30 minutes to set the colors. After that you can wash and dry the pillowcases just like normal.
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