I may have been a bit hesitant about the whole evil eye thing when it first came out, but I tell you what – I’ve now well and truly jumped on the bandwagon which I’m sure you can see by this project!
I drew inspiration for this one from the many gorgeous eye cushions I’ve been seeing around the interwebs lately, most notably this embroidered pillow cover, which I’m totally still going to buy because um, embroidery. But in the meantime, while I save my pennies I thought making one would be the next best thing and it turned out to be surprisingly easy.
Best of all, it mostly required materials I already had around the house (including a toilet roll) – the only thing I needed to buy was the cushion cover and the fabric paint. If you’re loving the eye trend as much as I am, get those empty toilet rolls together and let’s get started!
Materials
- White cotton cushion cover
- Black fabric paint
- A toilet roll
- Scissors
- Tape
- A paintbrush
- A sheet of cardboard and some plastic wrap
Step 1
Give your cushion cover a good wash and iron to prepare it for painting. Then cover a sheet of cardboard in some plastic wrap and insert it into your cushion cover. This will protect the back of the cushion from getting paint on it while you’re working on the front.
Step 2
Flatten your toilet roll so that it forms an ‘eye’ shape. Then cut the roll into three sections.
You’ll be using the largest section to make the ‘eye’ print and the smaller sections will be for the iris and eyelashes.
Step 3
Dip the largest section of your toilet roll into some black fabric paint and start stamping eye shapes onto your cushion cover.
Step 4
Cut out a segment from one of your smaller pieces of toilet roll, and roll it so that it forms a cylinder. Stick the two ends together with tape.
Then using the cylinder, stamp irises in the centre of all the ‘eye’ shapes on your cushion cover.
Step 5
Get a fine paintbrush and fill in each iris with black paint.
Step 6
Cut a small rectangular segment out of the remainder of your toilet paper roll. Then dip the end of this piece in paint and stamp little lines at the top of the eyes to make eyelashes.
I won’t lie to you, stamping on the eyelashes can be a little time consuming, but it’s well worth it – look at how pretty the eyes look all bedecked in lashes!
One of the things I like most about this cushion cover is that it pairs really well with pillows in other patterns and colours. The minimalist black and white goes great with just about anything – I’ve tossed it on my office chair along with my painted stripe cushion cover and they work together perfectly. 🙂
xx Steph