How to Sew an Easy Decorative Pillow Cover

Making a Pillow Cover

Pillows add texture, color and softness to a room, but finding the right color and style is difficult even in large home decor stores. Fabric stores have an array of styles, in a range of prices. So whether you want terrycloth for your backyard chaise or cartoon characters for your toddler's bedroom, you can get exactly the style you need if you create your own easy pillow covers.

Things You'll Need

• Fabric
• Pillow form
• Fusible tape
• Scissors
• Tailor's chalk
• Ruler

Instructions

Making the Cover

1. Choose the pillow form you want to cover. Find fabric in the style and texture you want. Wash and dry your fabric before you begin making the pillow cover, particularly if it's cotton or rayon. Both fabrics shrink and washing them beforehand will ensure that they'll fit properly if the pillow ever needs to be laundered.

2. Measure your pillow form. Add 2 extra inches on each side for the hem. So if your pillow case is 17 inches by 17 inches, your fabric will need to be 19 inches by 19 inches.

3. Fold your fabric, so that the front sides are facing each other. Using the ruler, mark the lines you'll need to cut. Cut through the layers to cut both pieces of fabric at the same time.

4. Keep the fabric's front sides facing together, and place fusible tape between them on three sides. Iron the tape according to manufacturer instructions until it melts, fusing the fabric together.

5. Turn the fabric right side out. Use a chopstick to push out the corners. Stuff your pillow form inside the one open end of your pillow cover. Fold over the fabric about 1/2 inch on the remained side and iron it flat on both pieces. Insert the fusible tape and iron it again until the tape melts. The pillow is complete.

Tips & Warnings

• Match the size of the fusible tape to the weight of the fabric.

• To create a pillow with rounded corners, after cutting out the square pillow fabric, place a drinking glass upside down at each corner, trace its edge, and trim to shape.

References

• Better Homes and Gardens: Sewing Perfect Pillows
• Make Them Yourself: No Sew Pillow Cover

Resources

• Real Simple: Decorating with Pillows