Quick and dirty: Pillow covers

Since I can’t work on my quilt right now as the fabric that I’m waiting for didn’t arrive yet I decided to sew some pillows for the couch. The couch came with 10 grey pillows and it’s clear that I would add some color to it.

I read in my comments that some of my readers wish they could sew. With this project I will show you how easy it is to enhance a place in 3 easy steps. All you need is a piece of fabric and  a zipper. All you have to be able to is sewing a straight line which isn’t difficult because as soon as the fabric is in the machine you just tap the pedal and the transporter will automatically sew straight (unless it’s some slippery fabric like silk…). And don’t be afraid of zippers. They’re easy to handle. Let me show you.

I will show 2 kinds of pillows. For the first you need a piece of fabric and a zipper. The pillows we have are approximately 50 x 50 cm so I measured my fabric and cut a stripe. I wasn’t very accurate when I cut because it doesn’t matter whether it’s a cm wider or smaller. The zipper isn’t 50 cm long – it’s actually a bit shorter – but that’s not a problem. You’ll see why.

Attaching the zipper is easy. You place the left side of the fabric onto one side of the zipper. It’s  important that it’s the left fabric side because when you turn the fabric you won’t see the seam.

Fix the fabric and the zipper with some needles before sewing.

Use a zipper foot when you sew. Before I knew what that foot was good for I used the normal one and came to the same result it’s just a bit of a hassle and it doesn’t run so smooth. The zipper foot is much better. One tip: When you come to the actual zipper stop sewing, make sure the needle is in the fabric, push up the foot and zip the zipper to the back so it won’t disturb you when you sew along.

After this step it’ll look like this. Repeat on the other side.

When the zipper is sewed on you’ll have this:

This is how it looks from the inside. Now all you have to do is sew in the shown direction.  You have to open the zipper a bit because if you don’t you won’t be able to turn the pillow at the end :-)

As the zipper as shorter than 50 cm I had to secure it by sewing down at its endings. So I made sure the ends weren’t visible when turning.

That’s it! Done. 3 steps and 15 minutes later I had one pillow ready.

The other pillow is actually just for decoration :-) I doubt anyone will be able to sleep on it but I LOVE it.

From my inexhaustible stash of IKEA fabric I took a double piece and drew a little cloud and cut it out (with a bit of seam allowance) .

Sew around and leave a bit open to be able to turn it inside out. Clip the seams so they turn out round and nice.

Turn inside out

Stuff it and close the opening. You can do that either by hand (which looks more thoroughly) or with the machine (that’s what I did because I’m so impatient).

Place it to the other pillows on the couch and be happy.

3 pillows in less than an hour is really my kind of project. Though I love sewing something that takes a whole day I love simple, quick and dirty projects even more. Where you don’t need much adn the outcome is just beautiful. The couch looks much friendlier already.

I hope I could ease the fear of sewing a little bit and wish you some courage to start your first projects. It’s really THAT easy!