Tutorial: Pillow Covers

Pillow Covers

Custom pillows can be a lot of $$. Making your own, although a little tricky with the zipper, is a sure way to get what you want!

These two pillows are a housewarming gift for my younger brother – whoo hoo on his first house!

For the pillow itself, I purchased a 6$ pillow from ikea, two of them, actually. Then I found some great fabric – this deep grey from Fabricland and the iron on letters are from Michael’s craft store. One matching zipper for each pillow.

First thing – you’ll need to cut your fabric. This part took me the longest because I wanted everything to be perfectly square. I think it took me an hour to measure out and cut.

What You Need

18 inch zipper
2 pieces of fabric 20.5 x 21.5 inches

Second step – serge one edge that measures 20.5 inches. DO NOT serge them together – not yet. You’re just serging the edge. I did mine in a cream thread so you could see it.

Now, top stitch the right sides together about 1 inch from your serged edge.

Now, iron back the 1 inch over hang (right side down) and place the 18 inch zipper along the seam.

Ensure the zipper is centred and pin in place.

Now, turn the fabric right side up and put your zipper foot on your sewing machine. Top stitch all around the zipper – be sure to indicate where the stopper is so you don’t break your needle.

Now, put the right side down on the table. You should be looking at the back of the zipper that is sewed securely in place. Open the zipper. With a seam ripper, carefully rip open the initial top stitch you made to sew the two pieces together. Once you have it open you should see that you have a nice hidden zipper. YAY!!

Serge the other three sides together and turn the pillow case right side out.

Letter Time

So, when I was at Michael’s craft store I knew I wanted the saying “Sundays are for Football”. What I did was write out the saying, count the letters to ensure I had the right amount of O’s and F’s and so on. I purchased two packs of letters. Half way home I was like “AUGH” I only purchased enough to do one pillow in that saying, how silly of me!! I had to come up with something else – and with the letters I had!! That’s where “Be Nice or Leave” came from – and truth, I love that saying more than the other. Plus, how boring would it have been to have two pillows that said the same thing. Clearly, everything happens for a reason!!

Cut out your letters – keeping in mind that how close you cut them will determine your letter spacing.

Lay out your letters on your fabric and chalk underline them. This part saved my butt!

Also – you might want to do a practice letter to see if it works with your fabric choice.

Double Check

Okay – so my letters are all in place with chalk lines (I was smart and centred the saying on the pillow). Now, like I said – this step saved my butt.

I moved the letters and put the cover on the pillow to see where the saying would show up – I couldn’t see the bottom line. It was as if it was mushed between the couch and the pillow. Good thing I checked!

Bump the saying up a line and double check – perfection!!

You can see below – the dark line up top is my new first line – but see on the very bottom how you can hardly see that 5th line? If I would have ironed on the letters first, without checking, you wouldn’t be able to read “Football” and that would flat out suck.

Iron time! follow the directions for your iron on letters.

Don’t forget a label.

They look awesome.

My husband says it’s one of the most professional things I’ve made. I believe it’s because I took my time and wanted to do it right. On past projects I would sometimes say “well, that’s good enough” and then end up not loving the results.

I love these so much I want to make some for us – different sayings though, but these two are perfect for my brother!