How to Make a Throw Pillow

Change or enhance the look of a room by adding throw pillows you've made yourself. These instructions will make a 24-inch pillow.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• 24-inch Pillow Forms
• Fabric Cutting Boards
• Fabric-marking Pens
• Home Decorating Fabrics
• Sewing Machine
• Sewing Needles
• Thimbles
• Threads
• Scissors
• Scissors
• Yardsticks
• 20-inch Zippers

1. Choose 1 1/4 yards of 45-inch-wide home decorating fabric and a 24-inch pillow form. Choose a coordinating thread and a 20-inch zipper as well.

2. Prewash fabric, and iron if necessary.

3. 

   Use a fabric cutting board, yardstick, fabric marking pen and scissors to measure and cut out two 25 1/4-inch squares of fabric.

4. See "How to Keep Raw Fabric Edges from Fraying" for instructions on how to finish the cut edges of the pillow squares.

5. Place your pillow pieces right sides together and pin one edge to another. Make sure that edges line up evenly.

6. 

   Insert the zipper into the center of the seam. Open zipper and pin the other pillow edges together.

7. 

   Stitch 5/8 of an inch from the pinned fabric edges and sew the remaining seams. When you reach a corner, lift the presser foot of your sewing machine and swivel fabric so that your stitching line remains straight. Keep needle inserted in fabric as you reposition.

8. 

   Turn the pillow cover right-side-out. Push out all the corners and insert the pillow form. Close zipper.

Tips & Warnings

• Make your pillow any size, but remember to reduce or increase the amount of fabric needed.
• Omit the zipper and sew along all seams. Leave a gap large enough to insert pillow form and turn pillow cover right-side-out. Hand-stitch the gap closed. (The pillow cover will be difficult to launder if you use this option.)
• Taper the seam allowances at the pillow corners so that seam allowance is less than 5/8 of an inch.

on 8/8/2006 To keep your pillows from having little points in each corner.... with the fabric inside out and stitched around the perimeter, fold the corners seam to seam (forming a triangle) and sew down all four corners about an inch in. You won't have "ears" in each corner this way.
You can also skip the zipper by leaving an opening about 17 inches long and stitching the fabric shut by folding in the top and bottom edges and sewing the pillow shut from the outside as close to the outside edge as possible.

on 11/22/2005 To keep your pillows from having little points in each corner.... with the fabric inside out and stitched around the perimeter, fold the corners seam to seam (forming a triangle) and sew down all four corners about an inch in. You won't have "ears" in each corner this way.
You can also skip the zipper by leaving an opening about 17 inches long and stitching the fabric shut by folding in the top and bottom edges and sewing the pillow shut from the outside as close to the outside edge as possible.