There is a reason you have never seen a sewing tutorial on this blog before…
Because I hate sewing. I think that’s a pretty good reason. Yes, I know how to sew (Mom made sure of that), and I am lucky enough to have a pretty nice machine. I will bust it out every blue moon to sew a valance or take in my boys’ shorts, but the sewing machine and I are not friends.
When I came up with my idea for the Cheap and Easy Studded Pillow Cover, I jumped in with both feet. The project hit a major slow-down when it came to the sewing part. Finally, I got motivated and stitched up three of these easy envelope enclosure pillows. I’m telling you, they are really easy to sew and I love how they are removable. Perfect project for a beginning sewer.
Start with whatever fabric you want for the face of your pillow cover. In my case I went with burlap. Next, measure your pillow form, add an inch on each side and cut out the face.
You can use the same fabric for the backside of your pillow cover, a coordinating pattern, or whatever you want. Line up the face along the edge of your fabric, and use your face as a guide to cut the width.
For the length, I recommend adding 1/3 the height of the face. My pillow cover was 19″ tall, so I added just over 6″ to the length.
Next, fold your fabric in half (top to bottom) and cut it. Now you should have 2 pieces the same size.
Now, you want to press a double hem on the top of each piece. First, fold down 3/8″ of fabric, and iron it flat.
Then, fold it over again, and iron flat.
Pressing the hem will make it easy to stitch into place. Move your needle all the way to the left, just so it catches the hem by 1/16″, and stitch it down. Repeat this on the matching piece.
Time to pin everything together. Lay your face piece, face up. Next, align your first back-piece, right side down, along the bottom edge of the face.
Then, align the second back-piece with the top of the face, over-lapping the first. Pin all 3 layers together and stitch all the way around.
What do you think? Could you sew one?
I am the same… I don't like sewing.. although I guess it is not the sewing part but the cutting out part I don't like. I have wanted to make some pillow covers so this is great. Thanks for the tutorial.. maybe I will get my sewing back on and pull out one of my three machines to do it on.. YES, I have 3 and I don't sew plus lots and lots of material… Pinning this.
Great tutorial! The first envelope pillow covers I made I tried to figure it out on my own and ended up with the envelope flaps much too short. Adding about a third on each flap is great advice.