Arranging things is one of my favorite hobbies: funerals, bank jobs, occasionally flowers when I’m feeling ironic. Lately I’ve taken to messing with the furniture. The piano and the sofa are a bit of a challenge, but I’ve made sort of a game of hiding smaller objects, such as the candlestick in the drawing room, and the lead pipe in the kitchen.

My dinner guests (well, all but one) find this hilarious. The other afternoon our high jinks turned a bit tragic, when a loaded revolver was left in the conservatory. We’re still trying to figure out who perpetrated that little crime! In the meantime, the Professor suggested I whip up these delightful pillows as decorative tokens of our after-dinner sport. It seems a bit safer, and infinitely more comfortable than a mislaid dagger in the drawing room—or in the ribs, for that matter.

The stencils for these pillows were made from freezer paper. It’s an easy method for putting cool images on fabric, similar to silk-screening but without the equipment. A number of amazing craft bloggers have put tutorials up online, including Dana Made It (www.dana-made-it.com) and Portland’s fabulous Angry Chicken (angrychicken.typepad.com). My thanks to them for the inspiration.

SUPPLIES

Scissors

Freezer paper (see Notes)

X-Acto knife

Iron

2 (18–inch) fabric panels per pillow (see Notes)

Old newspaper

Fabric paint

1–inch-wide paintbrush

Straight pins

Sewing machine, or needle and thread

Polyfill or your favorite stuffing

Fabric protector, such as Scotchgard (optional; see Notes)

HOW TO

1. Enlarge the template pattern to your desired size to fit on a finished pillow measurement of 17 inches square, and cut it out. My rope, revolver, and wrench measured about 12 inches.

2. Trace the stencil template onto a 16-inch square of freezer paper.

3. Use an X-Acto knife to cut the stencil from the freezer paper. Put your stencil, slick side down, on top of your fabric.

4. Set your iron at the highest nonsteam setting to ensure that the paper will stick completely to the fabric. Iron the stencil onto your fabric, starting with the large outline first, then pressing down any smaller pieces. It’s helpful to initially press the iron onto the paper, rather than moving the iron around; this will tack the design down in place and keep the paper from tearing.

5. Lay out an old newspaper to protect your work space and put the panel to be painted on top of the newspaper.

6. Fill in the open area of the stencil with fabric paint. You’ll probably want to do two coats for a sharp design, and wait at least an hour between each coat.

7. Let the paint dry overnight.

8. Peel the freezer paper off the fabric.

9. Pin the fabric pieces with right sides together.

10. Sew the pillowcase on all four sides with a ½-inch seam allowance, leaving a 4-inch gap along one side for stuffing.

11. Flip the pillowcase right side out and stuff the pillow.

12. Hand-stitch the gap closed.

13. Assemble your guests in the drawing room and begin your interrogations.

Notes:

I used an all-cotton fabric, but you could use a poly blend as well.

You can find freezer paper at most grocery stores. This wrapping parchment has a paper side and a slick side that is coated in a light wax.

I covered my pillows in a fabric protector when the project was finished, as, you may have surmised, my conservatory does get a bit “stain happy.”