Sewing a basic pillow cover for any rectangular-shaped pillow couldn’t be easier and you don’t need to worry about adding zippers or button holes to do it! 

Why create your own decorative throw pillow covers?

Rita Konig, a leading interior designer based in London, explains that when you pull things together that you love, you can't help but create something cohesive. Our homes and spaces should reflect our personality and preferences. Crafting our own spaces allows us to slow down, to notice, and to appreciate fellow artisans both past and present. When you find or create the pieces that strike you enough to add them to your space, you become the decorator. 

If you’ve wandered into any home decor shop recently, you might have come away disappointed. You didn't find the right decor pillow for your space. Nothing spoke to you. What if you could choose the fabric you liked, the pillow shape you wanted, and just create your own beautiful throw pillow? You can take a length of fabric and a pillow form and make the perfect pillow. This tutorial is outfitted with some basic formulas to teach you how to make whatever sizes you need in your collection. 

This is a great beginner sewing project as there are only a couple items you need to follow along, and there are no pattern pieces to print.

Please make sure to read through the entire tutorial before beginning the project. Special notes on adjusting your measurements for fabric type are located at the end of the pattern. 

Items you need: 

• 1 decorative throw pillow form - I recommend down-filled
• 1 to 2 yards of fabric (depending on the size of your pillow form)- dupioni silk, quilting cotton, light-weight velvet, light-weight upholstery fabric, and linen are all good choices
• All-Purpose Sewing Machine Thread
• Sewing machine
• Soft Tape Measure 
• Fabric Scissors
• Optional but highly recommended: Cutting mat, rotary cutter, and acrylic cutting ruler

Notes: A down-filled pillow form will produce the best result since it shapes and fills more evenly than a polyester filled pillow form.  

 

How to determine pattern piece sizes for a decorative throw pillow cover:

In this tutorial, I’ll be making an example pillow using Dupioni Silk in Sweet Pea. The fabric has a bit of stretch on the bias, so I’ll be taking the pillow form measurements, cutting out panels according to those measurements, and then reducing the overall finished size of the pillow cover by sewing a ½” seam allowance along the outside edges. 

To begin, measure your pillow form. Even though pillow forms come in standard shapes and sizes, always measure each individual form since there can be up to a 1.5” difference in the dimension from the listed size. Take your measurements to the nearest quarter inch.  Drape the tape from one side seam to the other, taking first a height measurement and then a width measurement. Fill in the blanks below for reference for the steps that follow. 

*

*

Pillow Measurements: 

Height   x   width  

H ___     x   W_____

Example Pillow:   20 ½” x 19 ¾”  

You will need three (3) pieces of fabric to make the basic pillow cover. One (1) front panel piece and two (2) back panel pieces that are the same size. We will use the pillow measurements to create our panels, and then sew with a ½” seam allowance to reduce the size of the pillow cover by 1” overall. This will create a cozy fit for the pillow cover with no sagging.* 

The front panel piece measurement is the same dimensions as the pillow measurement taken in step 1: H x W.

The back panel pieces will be hemmed individually and overlap each other creating the slip cover. The back panel pieces are usually ⅓ width shorter than the front panel. Fill in the blanks below to help you find your back panel piece width. You will need to be able to cut two of these from your fabric. Alternatively, multiply your width measurement by ⅔ (.66). Round down to the nearest quarter inch:

W  x  .66 = width of back panel

W_______ x .66 = ___________ 

 

W 19 ¾ X .66 = __13”___  (Example Pillow Measurement)

Back Panel Fabric Size for Example Pillow:  20 ½” x 13” 

Cut List for Example Pillow:

Front Panel for Decorative Throw Pillow: 20 ½” x 19 ¾”

Back Panel for Decorative Throw Pillow (Cut 2):  20 ½” x 13”

After you find your measurements, it’s time to layout and cut your fabric. Square up your fabric before cutting, especially with loosely woven fabrics, to ensure you're working with a truly straight edge.

Cut out the front panel first. *If you have directional fabric, you’ll want to purchase an additional ½ yard to yard of material to ensure the front fabric of your pillow and the back fabric of your pillow are going the same direction.* For reference, I want the slubs and weave in the dupioni silk I’m using to run horizontally across my finished pillow cover, and I needed to use an additional half yard to cut enough material in the shape I wanted. 

Cut out your fabric panels using your preferred method. For long straight cuts, I prefer my rotary cutting tool, acrylic ruler, and self-healing cutting mat. 

Now we’re ready to assemble the pillow cover. 

First, with the wrong sides of the fabric facing up, lay out the back panels. Iron down a ½” along the height of one of the panels, then turn down another ½” and pin. Repeat on the second panel. On a sewing machine, hem along this folded edge with the wrong side of the fabric facing up. Stitch as closely as possible to the double-folded edge. Iron the hems. 

*

*

*

With right sides facing, align the front panel with the back panels, making sure the hemmed edges of the back panels are overlapping each other in the middle. Pin the outer edges and securing an extra pin where the edge of the hem on the panel meets the edge seam of the border.

*

 On a sewing machine, stitch around the outside edge beginning just before the first vertical back panel hem.

 Reverse stitch to lock the beginning of the hem line, and reverse over the intersection of the hemmed edges with the border seam. See photo.

To turn a corner, stitch to the edge until there is 1/2" left, stop sewing, position the needle down into the fabric, lift the presser foot while rotating your fabric 90 degrees, lower the presser foot, and continue to sew the border seam. Add a few reverse stitches to help lock the turn once you've changed direction.

Once you’ve stitched around the entire border, reverse stitch over where your stitching began to lock in the final seam. 

Iron all edges flat. Trim off the corner pieces at a 45 degree angle, carefully cutting close to the corner seam. See photo.

 

Turn decorative pillow cover right sides out and gently push the corners to a sharp point using some closed scissors or another pointy object. I used a closed pen because I wanted to be extra careful not to puncture the silk. 

Give the edges a good press with an iron. Your decorative pillow cover is complete! Load your pillow form into the pillow cover, give it a nice fluff, and you’re finished! Enjoy what you’ve created. 

 

Companion pattern for the Bow Pillow pictured below available here.

Tips on how to load a pillow form into the decorative pillow cover: 

• Deflate the pillow form length-wise as much as possible and maneuver into the form. 
• After the form is completely inside the case, then guide each corner individually by hand by pinching the tip of the corner inside the pillow cover with your fingers and dragging it into the desired corner. With the other hand from the outside of the cover, pinch the pillow fill corner and the fabric it’s been matched to from the outside of the cover. Hold on tightly and push, shimmy, and otherwise coerce the pillow filler towards the desired corner until it fills the corner. Repeat for each corner.
  

End Notes: 

• Silk and linen in particular are loosely woven enough that they have some natural stretch and give to them - especially on the bias (the diagonal of the weave of the fabric.) Be careful to gently smooth the fabric flat without tugging when measuring and cutting these kinds of fabrics. 
• Velvets tend to be thicker and stiffer so I suggest cutting your fabric panels 1” larger than your pillow dimensions. If your finished pillow cover is a little saggy, you can remove the pillow cover, turn to the wrong side out, stitch a new hem around the edge of the pillow cover using your first stitch line as a guide, and then trim off the excess. 
• It’s easier to make a pillow cover smaller - but it’s pretty near impossible to make a pillow cover larger without taking it apart and adding more fabric. Always start with larger fabric panels and then trim down if needed. See the note on Velvets.