Bleached Polka Dot Pillow

All Within the Home
by All Within the Home
3 Materials
$10
5 Minutes
Easy

Try this quick and easy pillow update with no sewing or artistic ability required!

Sometimes if you buy a sofa from a big box furniture store, it probably came with some basic and plain accent pillows. Or you can easily find a plain pillow at a thrift store and update it with some household bleach.


I know, I know - bleach ruins fabric but in this case it only enhances it!

Start with a cotton, wool, or linen pillow. It does need to be a natural fiber because bleach cannot change synthetic fabric like a rayon.


Get a little cup of household bleach (like you use for your laundry) and you only need a small amount and a small tip paint brush. Even a cheap craft brush will work just fine!

Dip your brush in the bleach and start to make some small strokes or dots on the pillow. Whatever the bleach touches it will fade the color and create your pattern. Just do a random pattern - no artistic eye or thought needed! The more random the better!

I happen to have a light tan fabric, but if you use something like a navy, the more bleach you put on the lighter it will get so you can get some different shades depending on how much you layer your bleach.

Voila! A custom pillow in no time and no money spent! Let your pillow dry and maybe run it in the wash on a gentle mode so the bleach will not continue eating your fabric. I haven't had any problems with the bleach eating through this linen but when I did this with a cotton, it did start to get holes after a couple of months because I did not wash it afterwards. Whoops!

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Frequently asked questions
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  1 question
  • Karen Loftus Karen Loftus on Jun 29, 2021

    Really sweet idea All Within the Home!


    I'm thinking you probably would remove the pillow from the cover e before doing this project, if the pillow was going to be used for sleeping, right?

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