The Scrap Project: Pillow Covers
This is a great beginner sewing project! I’ve had these throw pillows from Target on our sofa for a lonnngg time. I was going to throw them out, but then I decided to make washable pillow covers to refresh them! This was before there was a pandemic going on, but now it seems like an especially good idea to have something more hygienic. This pattern is for a simple envelope pillow cover. Here’s a photo of my old, dirty throw pillows before:
Materials:
Throw pillow
Fabric
Sewing machine
Thread
Scissors
Pins
Iron + ironing board
Measuring tape
How much fabric do you need?
Here’s the formula I used:
(Length of pillow + 0.5”) x ((Width of pillow x 2) + 6”)
You can also input your pillow dimensions into the calculator I’ve created below if you don’t want to do the math (Please note: All dimensions are in inches and will tell you how much fabric you need for one pillow). In a pinch, you could subtract 2” from the fabric width.
For my 17” square pillows, I used 17.5” x 40” of fabric. If you have stash fabric, use that. If not, you could recycle a sheet, table cloth, or large piece of clothing. You could also sew together several smaller pieces of fabric to make a patchwork pillow. I recommend washing whatever fabric you choose before beginning this project. My fabric is from Domesticity.
1. Cut your fabric using a sharp pair of scissors. We will be sewing our pillow cover inside out, so the patterned or “right” side of your fabric will be on the outside. The “right” and “wrong” sides of my fabric are pretty indistinguishable for the fabric I’ve chosen, so I’ve tried to note them by adding text to the photos.
3. Get your sewing machine ready and load the thread you’ll be using. You could sew this project by hand, but using a machine will be much much faster.
5. Lay out your fabric with the “wrong” side facing out. You can place your pillow in the fabric to make sure everything looks good. You should have about 3” of overlap when you fold the fabric around the pillow. Remove the pillow before moving on to the next step.
2. We’ll start by sewing the short edge of our fabric. For my 17” pillows, this is the 17.5” side of my piece of fabric. This step is much easier if you’re able to iron the fabric first. Fold the edge of the fabric down about 1/4” and iron it down, then fold it down another 1/4” and iron again.
4. Sew along the short edge of the fabric. The part of the fabric you’ve ironed down and are now sewing should be the “right” side of the fabric.
6. I’ve folded my fabric so that it measures 17.5” across to fit my 17” pillow. Pin the fabric in place to prepare to sew the top and bottom of the pillow cover closed. You could probably do this without pins if you’re careful, but I’d recommend using pins if you have them.
7. Sew the top and bottom closed. If you want to get fancy, you can use a zigzag stitch along the edges to prevent fraying.
9. Shove your old, dirty throw pillows into your beautiful new pillow covers!
8. Turn your pillow cover right side out and use your fingers to poke out the corners.
If you sew some pillow covers while you’re home, post them on Instagram with the hashtag #scrapproject2020 so I can see!
Happy Making!