Dingbat Font Embroidered Pillowcases

Fun way to personalize your pillowcases. And they are so easy to do as well!

What you need

Embroidery Floss
Embroidery Hoop
Scissors
Embroidery Needle (Sharp with an eye large enough for your strands of floss!)
Pillowcases (Or anything else you’d like to decorate!)
Water Erasable Transfer Pen
Designs to Embroider (See below)

Instructions

Hand Drawn Method Also Needs:
Paper
Pencil
Ink Pen or Fine Point Marker
Sunny Window (or Glass Table and a Lamp)
Tape

Computer Method Also Needs:
Printer (and paper!)
Art Program or Word Processing Program
Dingbat Fonts
Sunny Window (or Glass Table and a Lamp)
Tape

Notes Before you Begin:
For the floss, variegated or solids both work great.
When embroidering I found it easier to use a strand about 12 inches long.
Use however many strands you like. 6 is a bold line where as 2 is a delicate line.
The 6 inch hoop is a helpful size to work with for pillowcases.
Wash your pillowcases if you buy them new, before you begin.
I don’t recommend the disappearing ink style pen, it fades very quickly in humid weather. I had a tough time using it, so I switched to the kind that rinses away in cold water and it worked great!
These make great gifts!

Two ways to make designs – Hand draw or use the computer.

Hand Draw Method:
Hand draw your designs on paper with a pencil. Once you like what you have, trace over with an ink pen or fine point marker to darken the lines. Let ink dry fully! Tape to a sunny window (or to a glass table and put a lamp underneath) then tape your pillowcase over that. Trace using the Water Erasable Transfer Pen.

Embroider in colors of your choice. Be careful to follow the directions on your Transfer Pen during your project as well as after to remove the ink. Heat may make the ink impossible to remove, so be very careful. Keep it dry during your embroidery process too! When you’re finished just follow the instructions on your Transfer Pen packaging to remove the ink!

Computer Method:
Measure your pillowcase in the location you plan to embroider. Figure out the size of the space you plan to fill. Then head to your computer. Search the Internet for dingbat fonts. Many great dingbat fonts are free and allowed for personal use! You can find dingbat fonts of just about anything, from cartoon characters to random squiggles that people drew up. Be sure to follow the dingbat font author’s terms of use! Many request that you do not make a profit with their designs.

Find the letters/designs you like in your fonts. Don’t be afraid to mix and match fonts to get the right look. Open either a word processing program that allows for font changes or open up an art program. Turn on rulers if you have the ability to do so on your program, it is helpful.

Measure your pillowcase again in the location you plan to embroider to double check!

Pick your font designs you’d like, and don’t forget to hold down shift for letters and numbers. Sometimes there are bonus dingbat designs hidden away there and in the other punctuation keys as well! Re-size the fonts in your program until they fall within the size you planned to embroider on your pillowcase.

For viewing quite a few of the dingbat fonts with all the images shown, I use the DaFont website (See below). They don’t list every Dingbat in the world on the site, but they do show off some great ones. You can view each letter on the font’s page to see if there’s anything in there you’d like to use.

Once you have your dingbat fonts typed out, size adjusted to what fits your project, save the file! Now you have it for future pillowcases! Then just print it out. Double check before you print that the paper layout is correct for your work.

Use the same process from above to transfer the design to your pillowcase. Tape paper to a sunny window or glass table with a light beneath. Tape pillowcase over and trace carefully!

Embroider your designs. Pay close attention to the directions on your transfer pen so that you don’t accidentally set that ink permanently while you’re working on your pillowcase. When you’re finished just follow the instructions on your Transfer Pen packaging to remove the ink.

More Notes: http://www.dafont.com/ (DaFont -Download and view some dingbat fonts) Dingbat fonts used in this project: Sakabe Animals 01, 02, 03 (Found at DaFont)