Made: DIY Pillows

Oh, it felt so good to get the sewing machine out again! It's been a while since I have made any DIY projects.  Now that we have a new house and a limited budget, I have a long list of them I hope to accomplish.  They still all take time and money though, so they will come slowly. 

We had four pillows for our couch.  They went perfect in the old house, but now they do not match at all.  So, with my great coupon for JoAnn's, I bought some Waverly home décor fabric and set out to make new pillows.

I was going to make covers that came off so they could be washed, but I liked this way better so they are more secure.  I had looked for a lot of tutorials, but just about all I could find were the slip covers. Then it dawned on me.  I can make it just like I make little blankies for my kids! So here is how it was done--
Super easy! I made both pillows in under an hour.  Unfortunately when I bought my fabric I thought the pillows were smaller and I could get two pillows out of each cut of fabric.  But, just like I always do, I screwed up.  I don't think I've ever done a project just the way I set out to do it. So each cut of fabric will only get me one pillow--so now I am going to get more fabric of a different design for the other two. Four different pillows will look ok, right??

fabric and pillows

I measured the pillow, which was 17 inches.  With the pillow laying on the fabric, I cut a 19 inch square.

Repeat.  So there is my top and bottom panels for the pillow.  Both 19 square inches.

 

Then I put the ugly sides together and pinned.  I placed my pillow on just to be sure I was going to have enough room! I ALWAYS cut my fabric so close and can't be generous with my seam allowance.

Sew around the square, ugly sides together.  Turn inside out.  I then stuffed my pillow in and made sure it would fit before making the bottom two corners.  On my second pillow, I just did all the corners at the same time.  But I was so nervous the pillow wouldn't fit, ha.

 

The pillow fit, so I went back and sewed in the bottom corners, but left a very large opening at the bottom to stuff the pillow back in.

 

 

Pillow is stuffed.  Fold over the edges to make an even edge and pin.

 

 

Then you have to sew the edges with the pillow inside.  I just stuffed the pillow down as low as I could, knowing that it would fluff back up.

 

 

And my finished products! I am SO happy with the way they turned out.  With the white pillows, it gives a great contrast to the beige couch and the fabric is so nice and thick because it was home décor fabric.  These pillows would have definitely cost me a lot of money to buy!

it's gray and yellow to match the walls!!! :)