Toss, Fling, Throw Pillow

I found this amazing fabric and had to make pillows.  It became my next major project after scarves.  I was inpired by the pillows I got from RenewProject (see Featuring: Renew Project).  My favorite pillows turned out to be from fabric my mom had left over.

I got some fun fabric at a thrift store.  It came in the form of pants.  You may remember them from my skinny pants post.  The vote was to make them into pillows.  There are actually two ways to make pillows.  One is to make pillow covers, which allows you to change them.  Another is to stuff the pillows and sew them up completely.  I am going to give the steps for both versions.

Step 1:  For either pillow first pick your fabric. 

For stuffed pillows

  

Step 2:  Cut two pieces of fabric to the length you desire, leaving an extra inch for seem allowance.  Typically pillows are either 16" or 18" inches square.  Today I'm making a small pillow at only 13" square including seem allowance.

  

Step 3:  Sew  around 3 1/5 sides of the fabric making sure the fabric is wrong sides out. 

Step 4:  Cut the corners of the fabric on a diagnal in order to make for a cleaner corner.

Step 5:  Turn the pillow right side out, stuff to prefered fullness and hand sew closed. 

For Pillow Covers:

Step 1:  Cut the fabric to the length you need.  For 16" square cut 17" X 40". 

For 18" square cut 19" X 45"

Step 2:  Iron the ends over on the wrong side.

Step 3:  Sew the ironed ends.  Depending on the fabric color you can either do a straight seem or a zigzag seem.  I chose zigzag for my purple pillow.

Step 4:  Fold the long side to overlap the ends.  Make sure the wrong side is out.  Measure to desired length and pin. 

Step 5:  Diagnal cut the corners so they are cleaner when turned.   

Step 6:  Turn and fill with a pillow to finish.

Here are the pillows when paired with others that I love.  I am hoping to add a few more and turn my bed to make it into a day bed.  I will let you know how it all turns out.