DIY or BUY: $3 Mudcloth Pillow Tutorial

On my most recent trip to LA to work with Rocky, we did some shopping, actually a lot of shopping! In one amazing little shop in the Cedros’s Design Center in Solana Beach, you were greeted with a floor to ceiling installation of pillows. So you know I was in heaven.

A serious on trend design for a while has been a mudcloth print. I don’t have any, only because I don’t want to spend a fortune to get one. When I looked close, and because Rocky and I were in a serious DIY mindset, I thought there was no reason why we couldn’t recreate it.

We made a quick stop at IKEA for a $5 white pillow cover. To our surpirse they were on sale for $3. Even better!!

As soon as we returned home Rocky set out to ironing.

I grabbed a Sharpie…..

Because we had some black yarn laying around from another project, Rocky added a few embroidered touchs to give it a bit of depth and softness.

About 20 minutes later we had a super cute and on trend pillow for Rocky’s couch.

Most likely you have a Sharpie in a drawer somewhere, but if not, a quick stop just about anywhere that has pens and a simple pillow cover or piece of fabric and you can have one too! I love that ours topped out at $3, so when I am sick of this trendy pillow or when (not if) my kids decide to flick a fully loaded paint brush on it, I will have no problem folding it up and stashing it in the pillow cover graveyard, i.e. My closet!

Watch this timelapse to see it all happen…..

 

So, DIY or Buy:

DIY Pros:

• Very customizable, you could choose your pillow cover, the colors, and the print that you prefer.
• Very inexpensive, about $97 less than comparable pillows we saw while shopping.
• Really fun project.

DIY Cons:

• Doesn’t look quite as good as the real thing.
• Isn’t a true “Mudcloth”.
• May not last through washes or wild children.

Buy Pros:

• As always, the ease of shopping and buying is simple.
• Could possibly be a real piece of mudcloth.
• Will most likely be more durable than our DIY.

Buy Cons:

• Could possibly not be able to purchase the print or colors that you desire.
• Expensive.

So… In my opinion this is a win for DIY. If I had $100 to burn I would gladly buy a real mudcloth pillow, but this more than satisfies my need for this trend.

Ashley