Instructions for Sewing Pillows

Use throw pillows to add style to your home.

Pillows are an easy, affordable way to add a little extra style to your living space. Colorful pillows brighten up neutral spaces, add personality to your rooms, and make couches and beds more comfortable spots to relax. Best of all, you can whip up a pillow from almost anything. Use old concert T-shirts, pricey designer prints that are too expensive to buy more than a few yards or even two cloth dinner napkins to make one-of-a-kind pillows to express your style. Because pillows require only simple sewing, they're a good project for beginners.

Things You'll Need

• Fabric
• Scissors
• Straight pins
• Sewing machine or needle
• Coordinating thread
• Cotton batting or pillow insert

Instructions

1. Cut out two squares or rectangles of fabric in the same size. Choose any size you like. You can use an existing pillow or your pillow insert for a guideline, or cut 20 by 20-inch squares to make a simple square pillow. If you're using a patterned fabric, you may want to allow an extra inch of fabric on every side so that you can match the pattern.

2. Align the two squares of fabric so that their right sides are touching. Pin three sides together with straight pins, leaving one side open.

3. Sew the three pinned sides together, using a straight stitch for a sewing machine or sewing a simple running stitch if you're sewing by hand.

4. Turn the fabric square right-side out. If you're using a pillow insert, slip the insert into the fabric square through the open side. If you're using cotton batting, stuff the pillow generously. Since stuffing flattens with time, fill the pillow so that it's a little fuller than your ideal.

5. Sew the remaining side of the pillow together using a straight stitch on your sewing machine or a simple running stitch if you're sewing by hand.

Tips & Warnings

• You can also use this basic technique to recover your existing pillows. Just cut the fabric so that it's about 1 inch larger on all sides than your current pillow and follow the rest of the instructions, using your existing pillow as an insert.

• If you like, add buttons or a zipper to one side of your pillow so that you can remove the cover for cleaning.

• Use two different fabrics to make your pillow so that you can get multiple decorating options from it by flipping it over.

References

• "The Pillow Book"; Shannon Okey; 2008