How to Make Pillows With Trim

Using pillows in home decor adds a comfortable feeling to any room. Choosing pillows with colors that complement your color scheme helps tie a room together.

If you have even novice sewing skills, you could successfully make your own decorator pillows with trim. Cut your fabric, pin the edges, and stitch a few straight lines, and you will quickly have beautiful pillows made exactly the way you want them to look.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• 2 Complementary Fabrics (1/2 yd)
• 2 yd Piping trim
• Fiberfill
• Sewing machine
• Sewing notions
• Needle
• Tape measure
• Zipper foot (optional)

1. Determine the finished dimensions desired for your pillow. Add one inch to both the length and width for seam allowances.

2. Place your fabrics right side up on a work surface. Prepare to cut your top and bottom pillow squares from the fabrics. If there is a print or design that appears repeatedly on your fabrics, center these designs and cut your pillow dimensions figured in step 1 around them.

3. Measure the distance around all four sides of the pillow squares. Add one inch to this measurement and cut the piping trim to this measurement.

4. Lay one fabric pillow square onto your work surface with the right side facing up. Pin the piping trim around the edges with raw edges of fabric and trim aligned together.

5. Begin sewing in the center of one side of the fabric square and piping trim with a 1/2-inch seam allowance. Start stitching 1/2 inch from the end of the piping trim (leave the first 1/2 inch of trim unsewn) and continue to the first corner. Stop with your needle down. Raise the presser foot and turn the corner. Readjust the piping trim, lower the presser foot again, and continue sewing the second edge.

6. Continue sewing in the same fashion until you are one inch from where you began. Slip one end of the piping into the other end to conceal the raw edges. Finish the last inch of sewing.

7. Place the second fabric pillow square on top of the sewn fabric square with right sides facing each other. Pin all three layers together, matching corners and edges.

8. Place a zipper foot in your sewing machine if possible. Stitch the second pillow square to the other square, but leave a five-inch opening for stuffing the pillow. After sewing, trim all four corners at a diagonal for proper pillow points.

9. Turn the pillow right side out and pull each corner out to a sharp point.

10. Fill the pillow with the desired amount of fiberfill. Hand stitch the opening closed with small whip stitches to finish the pillow.

Resources

• Piping Trim