Who says you have to go out and buy new pillows every time you want to change something in your decor! When my husband and I bought our (ridiculously awful) sofa set, it came with a crazy number of pillows. I think the number is something like 10.
The pillows were all made in the same fabric as the sofa set- a medium brown microsuede, and chocolate brown leather. Most of the pillows were just made out of the microsuede, and not the leather. I put most of them in my closet, as there really is no need for so many pillows. Although I think I found out why they give you so many later– when the sofa starts coming apart you can just pile up the pillows instead. Yuck.
After I finished making the twin-sized headboard, I realized I had more than a yards worth of fabric leftover, and could make some new pillow covers for a couple of my very ugly pillows! It’s very easy to do and it was nice to NOT have to spend money on new pillow forms. The fabric is from Ikea.
Old, bland pillow
So boring! First step, measure your pillow. Mine was 20″ square. So I wanted to cut my fabric a bit bigger. Ideally, give yourself an inch, but I gave myself half an inch and it worked out really well.
I used a large marked cutting board so that I could make sure my form was square. Cut two pieces, and place good sides together, pin. If you have a pattern that is dependent on straight lines, or matching print, line up the best you can before you pin. I forgot to do this on my first pillow, but I made sure I remembered on my second.
Two good sides together.
Sew three of the sides together, keeping it as straight and even as possible. I had guidelines marked on my pillow to keep my form square.
Detail of sewn pillow cover corner, good sides together
I sewed into the fourth side just a little bit, and tripled the stitching for strength. (Just go forwards and backwards and then forwards again on your machine).
Turn the cover inside out, and poke out all the corners. Here’s a detail of the matching seam:
Pillow Seam, it matches!
Stuff your old pillow into the new cover, and fold both edges in, and pin together to sew.
Old pillow in new cover
The next step, sewing the fourth side shut, I usually do by hand. However, I was a little impatient with these pillows, and decided to use the machine. The first one took a few tries to get it to look halfway decent. I had to very firmly keep the pillow in place, and stuffed way inside, so that I had a flat surface to work with on the machine. It’s not completely even, but it does the trick. And it certainly doesn’t look any worse than what the pillows originally had! I am very happy with my bright, new modern looking pillows!
New, modern pillow cover!
Happy new pillows brighten up the drab sofa. Hopefully this will help me live with it for a few more years until we can afford to replace it!
New pillows on sofa.
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