Back towards the beginning of my month of creativity — before it got hijacked by all cross stitch all the time! — I made two new pillows for our couch. More accurately, I made two new pillowcases. For years, I’ve had two cheap Ikea throw pillows inside two red and gold pillowcases I got in Greece in 2003. They matched the off-white couch in my old apartment, but they never matched the light green sectional we’ve had in our living room ever since we bought the house and needed something bigger.
I bought the home decor fabric — navy blue homewith a white botanical line-drawing print — at Ikea a year ago at least. Maybe two years ago. The point is that I had had this fabric sitting around with the intention of making throw pillows for a LONG time, so it’s almost embarrassing to admit that when I finally got around to making them, it only took about 15 minutes for each one.
Closeup of the envelope-style opening
There are several tutorials online for these — you can google something like “envelope pillowcase” or “throw pillow cover” if you want. Or you can just do this:
- Measure your pillow. I’m assuming it’s square, so that means it’s Y by Y inches.
- Cut a piece of fabric that’s Y+1 inches wide and 2Y+5 inches long.
- (optional) Serge all sides of your piece of fabric.
- Sew a 1/2-inch hem on the two short sides.
- Lay the fabric right side up on a table or the floor. Fold each short end towards the middle, overlapping the ends by 4 inches. (Another way to describe this is to make a “loop” with right sides together, and overlap the ends by 4 inches.)
- Sew a 1/2-inch seam along the top and bottom.
- Turn inside out, poke out the corners, and insert a pillow.
- Celebrate your awesomeness!
There are plenty of different ways to make a throw pillow, and many of them look more polished than this. You could add piping around the edges, or a zipper closure, or additional detailing. But you can’t do any of those in 15 minutes! Or in my case — 15 minutes plus 2 years.