Pillows are the easiest way to jazz up your décor! They are also a great way of expressing your individuality. Recently, I was at Walmart and found some Star Wars fat quarters on clearance! Instantly I knew that I wanted to make a pillow for my sister’s birthday because she is currently obsessed with anything Star Wars. Even though I had settled on making a pillow out of the fat quarters, I didn’t want to just make a plain pillow. Suddenly I remembered I had left over cording from my reupholstered arm chair project that I could use to make piping! So, the hunt began to find material that would look cute sandwiched between the Star Wars material. Finally, after like an hour looking at material at Joann I choose a fabric with tiny flowers because I wanted to bring some femininity to the pillow.
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What You Need!
- Quilting Cotton (I used two fat quarters which are 18 x 21)
- Quilting Cotton for Piping
- 3/16 Cable Cord for Piping
- Fiber Fill (Stuffing)
- Matching Thread
What To Cut!
You could easily make this pillow any size you want. For this tutorial I used the following measurements.
- (2) 18 x 21 Quilting Cotton for Front & Back
- (2) 1 1/2 x 43 Quilting Cotton for Piping
FYI!
All sewing is done with a 1/4 inch seam allowance.
What To Do!
First, with right sides together place your two piping strips in a backwards L.
Sew your piping strips in a diagonal from top corner to the bottom corner. You could mark this line with disappearing ink but I usually just wing it.
Once your done sewing your strips should look this this.
Trim the seam to reduce bulk. Make sure you cut the right side or you will be REALLY sad!
Open your strip and press with iron. Doesn’t that just look amazing?
To measure the cording lay one of the 18 x 21 pieces of fabric down on a table and your run the cording around the outside edge. Then add a couple of extra inches then cut. This will ensure that you don’t cut the cording too short. Put the cording into the piping material and pin as close to the cording as possible.
Take one of your outside pieces and pin the piping to the raw edge. Using a zipper foot start sewing several inches from the beginning of the piping making sure to get as close to the cording as possible.
When you come to a corner make notches in the piping so it will be easier to make the turn.
When you are several inches away from the end of the piping stop sewing! Remember how we started sewing several inches from the beginning? That’s because now we will join the two sides and make them look pretty!
Next, take the left side of the piping and trim off excess cording and material. Fold under the end of the piping material.
Take the right side of the piping and fit it inside of the left side. Trim the material and cording if they are too long.
Pin down the seam making sure catch all layers of the piping.
Go back to your machine and finish sewing the piping down to the first outside piece of the pillow. When finished look how good the seam looks!
Next, take the other outside piece of the pillow and pin it down right sides together with the outside piece that you just added piping to.
Still using the zipper foot sew the other outside piece down making sure to get as close to the piping as possible. Sew all the way around the pillow leaving a 2 inch opening in the bottom to turn.
Trim the seams and turn the pillow right side out using the opening you left.
Make sure to push out all of the corners of the pillow then press with iron.
Now comes the fun part! Stuff your pillow with fiberfill until it’s as full as you would like it. Here’s a tip for you! Kohl’s runs their The Big One pillows on sale ALL the time so I only paid $2 for the below pillow. So instead of spending a lot more money on a bag of fiberfill I just cut the end off of this pillow and used the stuffing for my new pillow!
Once your pillow is full pin under the turning hole and hand stitch it to finish your pillow!
There you have it! All that is left to do is place your fabulous pillow on your bed or couch!
Now you are equipped to make super cute pillows that are unique and totally you!
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