The Gathered Home

A Blog about Finding and Making

West Elm Inspired Gold Leaf Pillows

by 90 Comments

Happy Monday you guys! I’m not always psyched about Mondays (they’re so close yet so far from the weekend!), but today I am excited to introduce you to an awesome new blog series I’m participating in this summer!

I’m teaming up with Jennifer from Brave New Home, Amy from Delineate Your Dwelling, Tasha from Designer Trapped In A Lawyer’s Body, Katie from Upcycled Treasures, and Ashley from Bigger Than The Three Of Us to bring you “Knock Out Knock Offs”!

Each month, we’ve chosen one popular home décor store to inspire our knock off projects and this month, the store is West Elm!

Oh West Elm. Beloved by bloggers everywhere. So on-trend and perfectly of-the-moment. You’re killing me with gold textiles lately…

But at $40/piece for each pillow cover, these aren’t chilling on my couch anytime soon.

Or are they?

west-elm-knockoff-metallic-pillow-covers-black2

You may know that I’m a bit of a gold leaf addict, although I didn’t start out that way. In fact, my first time using gold leaf, I hated it with a passion. By our second date however, my disdain had transformed into a passionate love affair (following the expectations of every romantic plotline ever). From that moment on, I was pro-gold-leaf. #gildallthethings. I thought I couldn’t love gold leaf any more than I already did…

Until I discovered that you could gold leaf fabric.

I’ll let that sink in for a moment.

 You can freaking gold leaf fabric.

Life-changing.

Ready to whip up an awesome knock off of your own?

I already had all the supplies on hand, making this knock off completely free on my part. But I’m including a supplies list with prices below. Just realize that you won’t use 100% of any of the listed supplies, so you’ll end up with plenty of leftovers for future projects, which makes this much more cost-effective than it might appear!

Six Month Update:

These pillows sadly are no longer with us. Despite my best efforts to keep them as decorative accents, they ended up smooshed, sat on and generally rough-housed (no finger pointing, but it wasn’t by me!). My no-sew construction job was not up to the test and they burst at the seams. I would highly recommend sewing these as the iron-on hem tape did not bond well with the gold leaf. 

 The gold leaf also took a bit of a beating. It didn’t noticeably flake off, but it did become dull and thin in some spots. 

 In all honesty, practicality has never been my strong suite. I am afflicted with extreme “form over function-itis”. So I would make these pillows again in a heartbeat (with better seams) and simply not use them on the sofa where we sit all the time. They are cheap and simple and make a huge statement!

 I did, however, want to update you guys since I had received so many questions about the durability of gold leaf on fabric!

*Today’s post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase through an affiliate link, I may receive a small commission. You can read my full disclosure here. I hope you all know by now that I do only share things I really truly love!

Supplies:

  • Canvas drop cloth – Mine was leftover from a previous project, purchased for around $9 at Home Depot. Feel free to substitute 1 yard canvas or linen fabric.
  • Gold leaf – Again, leftover from an earlier project. The booklet of 25 sheets cost around $7, and I used approximately 1/3 of it for two pillow covers.
  • Metal leaf adhesive – This will last for many projects.
  • Masking tape – I just used the cheap tan stuff. No point in wasting money on more expensive painter’s tape.
    2 pillow inserts – I used two pillows that were already sitting on my couch and which were due a face lift.

I started out by cutting the approximately correct size for each side of the pillow cover (20” square, in my case) and gathering my supplies:


I used the straight-edge and a pencil to lightly mark my pattern for the chevron pillow cover before taping my design. I eyeballed the diamond pillow cover and just taped away. You’ll notice my chevrons and diamonds are a little less steep than the West Elm version, because they were easiest to tape that way. I’m all for making projects easier 😉

I don’t have a picture of the taping/gold leafing process because once I get started crafting I stop for no man (or camera). But you can see from the photo below – the tape covered all the “blank” spaces, and I applied gold leaf adhesive to the rest of it, and then the gold leaf. You don’t need to be a perfectionist about it – just put on a favorite show on the TV and have fun!

Peeling up the tape afterwards was undeniably the best part…

I assembled my pillow covers using heat-n-bond because I have a deep-seated fear/hatred of sewing machines and hence do not own one, but the heat-n-bond did not stick well to the gold leafed sections of my fabric. So sewing is definitely the best choice here, even though I love heat-n-bond for all other projects!

I closed up three side of the pillow cover and then stitched the bottom opening by hand around the pillow insert. So these are not removable, but you could make them removable if you want with an envelope closure in the back or a zipper on the bottom. If you’re fancy like that.

Even without zippers, these pillows are pretty darn fancy, in my opinion. I  played musical pillows, trying them out in various positions on our living room couches while deciding where I liked them best.

So what do you think? Will you be trying any of these knock out knock offs? Did you have any idea you could use gold leaf on fabric? What a world of possibilities!

Brynne

Ready to check out the other amazing knock offs?

I am so excited about my cohosts’ projects this month – I can’t wait to see what we all come up with for June!

1KOKO-overallgraphic700

A. Upcycled Treasures
B. Delineate Your Dwelling
C. Bigger Than The Three Of Us
D. Brave New Home
E. Designer Trapped In A Lawyer’s Body
F. The Gathered Home – you are here 🙂

Comments

  6. Katie Nathey says

    I had no idea you could Gold Leaf Fabric!! I couldn't wait to see how you did this once I saw the photo, LOVE! These are so amazing and the fact you had everything on hand, so it didn't cost you anything is icing on the cake!

    Reply

  7. Amy @ Homey Oh My! says

    The pillows look amazing!!! I actually recently tried gold leafing fabric and it didn't turn out so well… I'm thinking maybe the fabric type wasn't conducive to successful leafing. Question, did you need to let the adhesive set or did you just apply the gold leaf immediately after applying the adhesive?

    Reply

    • brynne@thegatheredhome.com says

      Oh no! I want to try this on other fabric types too – what kind of fabric were you using? I let the adhesive set until it was tacky (the stuff I used will stay tacky for DAYS!). I had trouble in spots I didn't let set for long enough.

      Reply

  13. Amy W says

    I've still yet to try gold leafing but I soooo want to. Your pillows turned out stunning and now I want to try gold leafing more than ever before!

    Reply

  14. Trisha D says

    Super adorable, affordable and fun!! I've done my fair share of using some kinda adhesive on fabric and I could not agree 100% more "Peeling up the tape afterwards was undeniably the best part…" And maybe I shouldn't say this out-loud but yours are totally better!! Aaand because they're custom to you and your style (best part of DIYing)!

    Reply

  15. Tasha A. says

    OMG, Brynne! I cannot believe you can gold leaf fabric. You are right. That is totally life changing! I can't wait to try this! Such a great knock off!

    Reply

  22. Deonna Wade says

    Hey Brynne…It's Deonna from the Child at Heart blog! Came over from Do Tell Tuesdays and this pillow is so great! I want to copy it immediately 🙂 Following you on Pinterest now for future ideas!

    Reply

  30. Alisha Hodges says

    Oh, thank you for this! I saw the West Elm pillows a while ago and have wanted them so badly ever since. I will definitely make these sometime in the near future and have pinned them.

    Reply

    • brynne@thegatheredhome.com says

      Sara, I got the gold leaf sheets at Michael's, and so far, it's holding up. These pillows aren't going to see rough usage though, and I'm fairly certain the covers aren't washable. I'll be sure to let everyone know how they hold up over time!

      Reply

  37. Zakkiya Hamza says

    J'adore! Gold leaf on its own is splendid stuff and on fabric is wait for it legendary!!!
    Thank you Brynne for this oh so awesome post. I'm gonna definitely try this out. Hmm but I'll need some stitching help.(I'm kind of terrible at it )

    Reply

    • Brynne says

      Yay! I hope you do try it! I am not a big sewing fan myself, which is why I used the iron-on stuff. I just saw another blogger make pillows with fabric glue (I wish I could remember the link!) which she said worked well!

      Reply

  39. Jessi @ Practically Functional says

    These are amazing!!! I love how the gold crackles a bit, it gives it that perfect vintage aged look, and they look great on that brown leather couch! I featured this on my blog today, and I'm stopping by to pin it; thanks so much for sharing at Creativity Unleashed!

    Reply

  40. Heidi Dewhirst says

    Oh my goodness I love this knockoff idea! I often get inspiration for things I can recreate myself when visiting fancy shops. I'm excited to check out your other projects. Heidi @ box of various x

    Reply

  42. kathy says

    These are way cool! I was just wondering if you scotch guarded these if that would help with the longevity of the gold ?

    Reply

    • Brynne says

      What a great idea! I don’t know, but that sounds like it’s definitely worth a shot! I recently did another gold-leaf-on-fabric project, and this time I used a clear spray sealer on top… They are curtains, so they won’t see as much wear as pillows, but if I were to make the pillows again, I’d definitely see how the spray sealer helps them hold up!

      Reply

  43. Zoe says

    How do you think Gold Spray paint would work for this project. Have you ever tried to spray paint fabric? I have gold paint on hand, but no gold leaf 😉 Thanks for the wonderful inspiration!

    Reply

    • Brynne says

      I haven’t used spray paint on fabric before, but I did use latex paint on a pair of chairs… I think it’s definitely worth a shot! I would test it out on a piece of scrap fabric and see how evenly the paint applies and what the texture is like once it’s dry! Let me know how it goes!

      Reply

  44. Dalila says

    I fell in love with some gold and white curtains from Crate and Barrel, however, they are very expensive! I’m going to try this on some cheap IKEA curtains I already own. I hope since curtains aren’t touched much this will last.

    Reply

  45. Elisa says

    Hey Brynne!
    I tried this over the last 2 weeks on some cotton canvas drop cloth, and I used the Mona Lisa Gold leaf and adhesive for gold leaf….and my gold just doesn’t really stick on the canvas :/// I don’t know what I am doing wrong…I applied the adhesive and I let it dry according to the instructions on the bottle (let it dry until it’s clear, at least 10 minutes) and then applied the leaves…but most of them came off, so I had to pat them down several times everywhere pretty much…and then I applied some shellac sealing spray on top but still the gold comes off. I wonder if I am using the wrong canvas type, where the glue/gold just doesn’t stick to properly?
    Thanks for your help! I love the idea and how it turned out in your case!
    Elisa

    Reply

    • Brynne says

      Hi Elisa,

      Aw man! I’m so sorry to hear that this wasn’t working for you! It sounds to me like your methods are all good. I suspect that maybe the adhesive is still not dry enough, just because I’ve had problems there before. I’ve learned to test it with a fingertip for “tack” – you want it to be super sticky and sort of grab your fingertip at first before you apply the gold leaf. Alternatively, I’ve used a spray adhesive (in this project) that seemed to work a bit better than the liquid adhesive. I hope this helps!

      All the best,
      Brynne

      Reply

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