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As many of you know, I sell quilted pillow covers in my Etsy Shop. I list a few every now and then as my time and desire allows. I have learned I thoroughly enjoy selling pillow covers here and there, but I don’t have the desire to sew enough to keep my shop well stocked. I also enjoy sewing quilts for our home and for those around me, and I can’t spending time quilting and stocking my Etsy Shop. 🙂
In case you’d ever want a pillow from my unstocked Etsy Shop, I thought I’d share with you how I make my pillows so YOU can make one too.
Maybe flipping through this tutorial will let you see how simple a pillow cover can be.
Or maybe you’ll decide to find a fellow maker (maybe me!) to make one for you. 😉
1. Find or buy some fabric. I also use vintage sheets a LOT right now. That is what you’ll see in the pictures below.
I recently wrote this post on where I buy vintage sheets. I encourage you to find a variety of four or five fabrics that you enjoy to try combining them for patchwork. I talk about how I combine fabrics in this post. And in case you are looking for a great shop for purchasing good quilting fabric, check out Sojo Fabrics, Morgan Kelly Quilts, Kiwi Fabrics, or Field and Cloth. These are some of my favorite places to browse.
2. Cut your fabric into squares. You can read through this post to learn how to cut perfect squares.
I usually sew pillow covers that measure about 17 inches square. This makes a good size pillow for an 18 inch pillow form. These blocks are 4.75 inches square.
Feel free to make your cover larger or smaller, but remember to take seam allowance into consideration when deciding your block size.
3. Arrange your squares in the order you’d like to see them on your pillow. I tend to pay closest attention to color balance. I also don’t like two of the same fabrics sitting side by side.
4. Once you are content with your block arrangement, begin sewing your blocks into four rows.
5. Next up, we need to iron the seams on the back of your rows. I’m a huge proponent of nesting seams in a situation with basic patchwork like this pillow. You can see below how the seams go the opposite direction with every other row.
6. Once your seams are ironed, it’s time to sew the rows together. Here is the front after my four rows are sewn together.
Here is the back. You can see we will have some more ironing to do on the seams we just sewed.
7. To reduce a bit of bulk and to protect those precious threads, I tend to iron my seams open this time around. If I’m not nesting, I usually go through the effort of ironing them open.
Here’s the front of the pillow cover now. The corners are nice and tight after nesting the seams, and the cover, in general, lays very flat and crisp after pressing the seams.
8. At this point, I always add batting and backing to the fronts of my pillow covers. For a short season, I just used interfacing on the backs of the patchwork, but I decided to forego that plan and make the fronts just like a mini quilt.
I always cut my batting just a bit larger than my pillow cover top.
9. I use a minimal amount of spray baste to adhere the top to the batting. Using the spray baste has really helped reduce puckering for me when quilting the top.
As I’ve continued sewing pillows for customers, I really do try to make them as perfect as possible. Because I am sewing with imperfect hands, I know my corners and quilting really will never be faultless. One change I have recently made, though, to improve the quality is to use the spray baste. I avoided it for so long because of the expense, but it has worked really well for me.
10. Then I add a backing to the front of the pillow cover. The backing is usually leftover fabric, discount fabric, fabric scraps pieced together, or in this case, a vintage sheet that I knew I’d never use in my projects.
11. Once I trim the backing, I head over to my sewing machine. I do not spray baste the backing since no one will ever see the puckers on the inside of the pillow.
I almost always quilt straight lines using the seams as my guide. A walking foot is my best friend when it comes to straight line quilt.
I also always quilt in all the same direction. I start at one end of the cover and quilt the lines in the same direction moving to the other end.
12. Then I turn the pillow cover and quilt in the opposite direction. I, like I mentioned above, quilt all in one direction this time too.
13. Next I add a small zig zag stitch to the bottom edge of the fabric. If I had a serger, I’d use it here, but I don’t. My goal is to reduce fraying if this cover was every thrown in the washing machine. Even though this seam will ultimately end up on the inside of the pillow, I try to have as few raw edges as possible.
14. Then I trim the excess batting and back from the edges.
15. Now it’s time to begin working on the back of the pillow cover.
I trimmed another vintage sheet down to size for use on the back. Note that I left a bit extra around each edge, and I left an additional inch or so at the bottom.
16. On the bottom of the backing fabric, I usually hem the edge. This, once again, is an effort at reducing the number of raw edges on the pillow cover. I just iron over an approximate quarter of an inch twice and then stitch it down.
17. Next I install a zipper. You can read how I add a zipper in this post. (Boy, that post needs updated! …that orange fabric is such a distraction to the actual instructions.)
I was intimidated by zippers for a long time, but I am so thankful (with the help of my husband) that I figured out a method that works well for me!
18. With the zipper installed and the fabrics right side out, I pin the edges together. This is the start of sewing the French seams. Almost a year ago, I started sewing French seams on the insides of my pillow covers. I wasn’t sure they were worth the effort, but it makes me feel so much better without all the raggedy edges on the inside.
19. Below you can see where I sewed a stitch very close to the edge with my pillow cover right side out.
20. Then I flip the cover wrong side out and sew around the perimeter. I always sew around this part twice. Sometimes it takes a lot of stuffing to get the pillow inserts in these covers, and I’d hate for a seam to rip!
Isn’t it nice, though, to have these clean edges on the insides of the pillow too?
21. Flip your cover inside out and that, my friends, is how I sew my pillow covers!
Since this cover measures just under 17 inches square, I’d encourage my buyers to use a well stuffed 18 inch pillow form for the inside.
These, if you ask me, are a perfect bit of cheerfulness to add to just about any room!
I have always thought zippers were mega fiddly. This is SERIOUSLY THE BEST TUTORIAL EVER!!!!!! Thank you. I feel like my pillow cases are professional enough to gift and sell!
I’m so glad it was helpful, Jessica!
Thank you for this great tutorial. I just finished my first quilt a month ago and hadn’t touched my machine since – guess I overwhelmed myself finishing the whole top in days, and the whole quilt in a week or two. Thanks to you I’m back in the saddle and made my first ever pillow insert and zippered cover! Thanks!!! 🙂
I love this!
Hi Kelli! I am trying to figure out my color combo… I finished cutting up my fabric and laid it out and it looks a little nursery/baby colored to me. How do you use pastels but keep the look still mature? I saw you talked about color balance so I tried to take a pic of my fabric and turn it into black and white to see the color balance. Everything is rather light. Should I add in more dark? Yours all seem so bright and happy so I was staying away from dark. I read your post also about how to pick fabric and LOVED it. I agree with everything you wrote about picking fabrics you love and not being matchy-matchy. But I’m just stuck on what to do with these pillows. Any suggestions? Thank you!
Hi Tori, good question. I understand how pastels can read like nursery colors. First off, good for you for laying it out before sewing it together. You could try adding in something dark. Otherwise, have you tried a low volume with a little black or dark gray? Or something with a grid like pattern? This isn’t going to fit for everyone, but I’ve learned that adding a tinge of black or dark charcoal gray (even on a light background) can really add some sophistication.
This polka dot is one I commonly use: https://tidd.ly/3kcsFAJ
This grid is another I’ve used a lot: https://tidd.ly/3kaMGrm
Those are just two of my favorites that I feel add depth and sophistication yet they read low volume in my mind.
My only other piece of advice….determine that this will not be the last pillow you sew. You’ll learn a lot from this one, and then you’ll learn more from the next one. You’ll hone in on what you like together. 🙂
Would I plan to have a 1/4 seam on three sides and a 1/2 seam on the zipper side?
Joshua, that’s a bit complicated to answer. When I use a zipper, I like to hem my raw edges by the zipper. In order to have enough fabric on the front and back of the pillow to hem, I need a bit of extra fabric. A quarter inch seam allowance SHOULD be sufficient on a zipper, but I like use a 5/8 seam allowance for my zippers. After a lot of trial and error, it’s just what has worked best for my zippers and sewing machine. For the sides, a quarter inch seam should be completely fine. Sometimes I run into something unexpected where I end up shaving off a bit more than a quarter of an inch, but that’s not normal.
All that to say, if you are a perfectionistic sewer, your originally mentioned seam allowances should be sufficient and work well. I often end with puckers here and there and little spots that didn’t turn out perfectly. I enjoy a little flexibility and tend to oversize the front and back to ensure I have, at a minimum, a quarter of an inch to work with.
Maybe I overthought your question!
I’m following along this tutorial and I just got stuck. I’ve quilted the front and now I’m about to cut the back and add the zipper. Why do you cut the back fabric bigger than the front? And when do you cut it down to the right size? After the zipper but before doing the French seams? I’m wondering if it would work to just cut the back fabric to be the exact size as the front piece before installing the zipper?
Thanks so much for your help!
Hi Tess. Good questions. I’ll explain it differently here and maybe it will help you understand why it works for me to cut the back bigger.
So you have the back of the pillow cut. You have the front done. You have installed the zipper.
The front and back are joined together now just by the zipper. Since we are sewing French seams, we sew around the perimeter of the front. The back and front are not joined.
Now we trim all the excess fabric from around the seam we just sewed above. We’re ready to flip the pillow inside out to finish the final sewing.
The same steps could likely be completed if you started with the front and the back the exact same size. Here’s my dilemma. They’re the exact same size. I then install the zipper. All is good until I go to line up the front and the back to sew around the perimeter. The fabric has shifted here and there by small amounts and sewing in the zipper maybe took up a bit more off the front than the back.
In other words, after sewing in the zipper, my front and back are no longer the exact same size. I find myself trying to match up two pieces are have shifted. Lining up the edges precisely doesn’t work anymore.
Maybe this is more of a reflection of my imperfections! 🙂 For me, it’s just easier to trim down the back after everything is sewn together and lined up.
Let me know how it works for you! I hope that makes sense.
Thanks for your quick response! It all made sense except did you mean to say… the front and back are “now” joined instead of “not” joined?
If I’m understanding correctly… I install the zipper with the back being a little big. Then line up the front and the back, right sides out, and sew along the perimeter (joining the two sides) for the French seams. Then trim off the extra back fabric. Then turn it inside out and sew around the perimeter again. Is that right?
Also two more quick questions if that’s okay! 😊
1. When you are quilting the front, do you backstitch?
2. When you do the small zigzag before installing the zipper, do you just zigzag the edge that will have the zipper or do you zig zag around the whole front? And then when you cut off the extra batting, do you leave a tiny amount on the edge to not cut through that zig zag stitch?
Thank you so so much for your help!!
Hi Tess, yes to almost everything!
You said…
If I’m understanding correctly… I install the zipper with the back being a little big. Then line up the front and the back, right sides out, and sew along the perimeter (joining the two sides) for the French seams. Then trim off the extra back fabric. Then turn it inside out and sew around the perimeter again. Is that right?
Yes, that’s exactly right.
When I quilt the front, I don’t back stitch. I assume that when sewing around the perimeter, I’ll sew through all the quilting on the front and secure those stitches.
You also mentioned a zig zag stitch in regards to sewing the zipper. I’m not sure what you’re asking. 🙂 I don’t remember a zig zag stitch anywhere. Maybe ask it a different way and I’ll catch on.
Sorry for the confusion… it was before adding the zipper. Step 13. Thanks for all the detailed help!
Thank you for the tutorials Kelli! I know that a pillow is the way to get started with quilting and I too have fallen away from time to read blog posts. So glad you mentioned this on your post and directed me this way!! 😉
Thanks for stopping by and reading. 🙂 I do hope to one day see your quilt progress…maybe after all the house work is done!
Beautiful photos and clear instructions! I’ve never added a zipper to a pillow cover, but I may do it now with your help! I’m thinking I need a few bright pillows around my home to welcome spring, if it ever gets here! Thank you.
Hi Kathy! Thanks for your sweet comment. I’ve never regretted learning how to use zippers. I’ve used them SO MUCH in the last couple years. I hope you do try sewing up some springtime pillows…maybe you’ll have them done by the time our snow melts around here! 🙂