Easy DIY Throw Pillow Covers

After recovering the dining room chairs and making the dog bed cover, I’m totally hooked on creating fabric for our home. And now that I’ve finally figured out how to thread my serger without pulling out my hair, I’m hooked on sewing things for our home. It’s such a fun way to create decor that you love that also matches your home so perfectly. And you can’t help but pat yourself on the back a little when you look around your house and say, “yeah, I made that!”

Zazzle is seriously becoming one of my favorite places buy fabric. So many time’s I’ve gone to the fabric store looking for home decor fabric and left empty handed because nothing quite fit what I had in mind. Now, I just upload my design, preview it in their oh-so-fancy mockups, and then it magically arrives at my door even prettier than I expected.

Since getting a new sofa after we moved, we really needed to give our throw pillows an update. We were still using a mix of Target pillows and the pillows I made for my apartment before we got married (over 7 years ago). Since I like my throw pillows comfy and I didn’t want to mess with sewing a million zippers, I skipped the zippers all together! These babies sew up so quickly that you’ll want to change up your throw pillows every other week!

Supplies: polyester weave fabric / pillow inserts / thread / pins / scissors /ruler
Optional: rotary cutter / cutting mat
Time: 20 minutes per pillow

1. Cut 1 piece of fabric .5″ larger than the pillow insert. For example, for a 20″ x 20″ cushion, cut the piece 20.5″ x 20.5″. A rotary cutter and cutting mat make this part a piece of cake. You can also just use a ruler to measure your fabric and cut it was scissors. Cut the back 2 pieces of fabric the same height and 3-4″ smaller width. For example, for a 20″ x 20″ cushion, the back 2 pieces will each be 20.5″ x 13″. The width measurement will depend on the width of the pillow insert, but as a rule you want this to be about 3-4″ narrower than the front panel.
2. Hem the short side of each back panel by folding over the edge .5″ and then .5″ again. Pin into place and sew a straight stitch all the way across to hold the fabric in place and finish the edge. Do this with the other short side of the second back piece.
3. Place the front piece of fabric right side up. Then place one of the back panel piece right side down, with the finished edge towards the middle. Then place the second back panel piece right side down with the finished edge towards the middle. The back panel pieces will overlap a few inches in the middle. Pin everything into place.
4. Sew all the way around all four sides.
5. Finish the edges however you like. I used my serger, but you can also use an overlock stitch on a sewing machine.
6. Turn the pillow cover right side out and place the pillow insert inside. Then sew more pillow covers until you hearts content!