Basic Pillow Sewing Tutorial

Basic Pillow Sewing Tutorial

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If you are a regular reader you know I'm a very novice sewer. My heart is there but my skill is not. That being said, I keep trying!  My mom was a sewer so growing up I watched her and gleaned this and that from watching her. I hope to use a lot of the blog tutorials to make my sewing more advanced and start doing more intricate projects. But until that happens THANK GOODNESS FOR PILLOWS!!  And I figure I can't be the only starter sewer out there so here is a tutorial for all of those who sew a button on and need 4 Band Aids afterward.

I made these pillows last week:

This is how I did it:

Step 1:  Choose your fabric. I chose cotton duck because my original pillows were brick red and I wanted to cover them. It wrinkles so easily that I don't know I'd use it again but it certainly is durable.

Step 2:  Measure your pillows and add an inch to all the sides for your seam allowance. Cut out two pieces. Lay them so their right sides are together. Pin if you need to. I did not.

Step 3:  Start sewing. I create a knot by running the needle on 0 a couple of times and then move forward. Love sewing in a straight line. Love. It.  To make neat and clean corners bring the foot of your machine up and  manually bring the needle down and turn your fabric.  Release the foot back down and continue sewing on your next side. Don't make a knot and start over.

Step 4: Continue sewing. Depending on the size of your pillow leave an unsewn opening so you can insert your pillow. Obviously, you're thinking, right?  Yeah, obvious. I have almost always  never stitched it up.

Step 5: I like to trim my seam allowance a bit at this point and I also make a small slit in the corners so they don't bunch when you turn it right side out which is the next step.

Step 6: Turn right side out. Use a long, not sharp, object to help you get the corners out perfectly. I use a long knitting needle because it works perfectly.

Step 7: Insert pillow and seal up the opening. Now here is where real sewers should look away and sew a prom gown or something. I don't sew my openings up. They never look good to me because it should be done by hand and it looks different from the rest of the stitching. I use Liquid Stitch which is essentially a really strong fabric glue.  Run a small bead of glue along the seam you need to close and clip it closed with clothes pins, paper clips, magnets shaped like fish...whatever!   Leave overnight.

Step 8:  Rest your weary, all-sewn-out head on the pillow you just created!

For these specific pillows I glued the ribbon trim on before I sewed the pillow. I used hot glue (technical, I know) and extended it past my seam allowance so it would be neatly sewn in between the seams.

The flowers are just hot glued on too.

I will have more pillows to show you soon!  I really have to learn to slipcover this sofa so I can stop making pillows.  It's not leaving me much time to make flowers. HA HA HA!

Enjoy your long weekend!

Cheers!

Jenny