DIY tutorial: A quick pillow re-do

I know making a pillow is so, so, so basic, but I thought there might still be people out there that could use some help with it! So, here ya go... this summer when I was planning my purple living room, I got some plain black pillows for super cheap at IKEA.  I decided to make them more fun and built felt flowers on them, and they were really cute at first and served their purpose, but the felt eventually shed all over the black and it was hard to get off, and they got really dirty but I couldn't wash them since they were just glued together.

Felt flowers on black IKEA pillows

Anyway, recently I have been wanting new pillows and have been thinking about ideas for my next place...and I know I want to incorporate gray and white and maybe coral, so I am going to slowly change everything over (or get rid of things) to get stuff in that color scheme.  I found a great gray and white fabric on sale for $2.50 a yard at JoAnn's and got a yard of it, not knowing exactly what I was going to do with it.

As you all know, decorative pillows can be super expensive for some reason.  So, I wanted to reuse what I already had.  I originally was going to just make covers for the black pillows and rip the flowers off, but the pillows were a little bit bigger than I preferred, so I decided to start fresh and just use the stuffing from the old ones.

First, you just need to cut 4 even squares of fabric.  I didn't measure or anything because I couldn't find a tape measure, so mine are by no means perfect...

sloppily cut squares :)

Next, you're going to sew two pieces together with the right sides facing in. That is how the fabric is laying in the picture above.  You want to sew the pieces together fully on three sides, and then a little on each side of the last edge, leaving a gap in the middle (big enough to fit your hand in for stuffing!)

the gap I left in the middle of the last side,
make sure you backstitch so the seams don't come
undone when stuffing!

At this point, you just want to quickly clip the corners (like I mentioned in my last tutorial) so they will come to a good point when you turn it right-side out.  Then, turn it out and begin stuffing.  You can obviously buy stuffing from any fabric store if you don't have old pillows you want to reuse.  I just ripped the black ones open and took the stuffing out in chunks until I was satisfied with the fullness of the new pillow!

Quick tip: stuff the corners first! It makes
things much easier in the long run

When you're finished stuffing, your hole should look
something like this.

All that's left to do now is pin that hole shut, and top stitch over it with your machine (can be hand sewn as well, the machine is just quicker).  This part can be a little tricky because the pillow doesn't fit easily under the machine, but it just takes a little patience, and a little shifting of the stuffing to get it situated.  You can barely tell that it is sewn differently from the rest of the pillow because it's such a small section of only one side.

They're not perfect but if you use a ruler and make sure the edges are perfect they will be.  The finished product should look like any decorative pillow you would find at Target, HomeGoods, etc etc! I think these turned out so cute, and they were so inexpensive to do. Less than $3 for this makeover :)

Not my couch...but you get the picture!

I hope these instructions were easy for you to follow.  I know making a pillow is so basic, but this was just something that I thought I could show you in case someone didn't know how.  And also to remind you all that you can definitely reuse things! It's so easy to throw something out, it takes creativity to re-invent something :)

Hopefully I'll post again soon.  I am wanting to do a makeover on my coffee table in the next week or so when I get some time!  

Catherine

CHIC.CLASSY.CHEAP