How to Make a Throw Pillow

DIY Throw Pillows

Hey there everyone. Sorry I've been slacking lately. Man, things have gotten busy busy busy. Hubby has been out of town this past week and is actually only coming home for one night before he's off again next week. I've been trying to get a women's sewing group together at my church for a nonprofit organization called Days for Girls. We will be making reusable feminine hygiene products for impoverished girls all over the world. I highly recommend you look up the organization here. Hopefully I'll be able to post more about that sometime soon.

This has nothing to do with the tutorial, but this is one of the things taking up my time lately.

For now, I am still slacking in terms of this blog, but I have been making these throw pillows to sell at a friend's tropical themed art studio in Rincon. I absolutely have got to get a little bit of income coming in to support all of my little addictions hobbies. Anyway, the reason I say I am still slacking is that this is really more of a non tutorial as it is literally about as basic as sewing can get except for the slip stitch, which is not difficult at all and is also optional. This is my first sewing tutorial though, so please bear with me.

One finished product

Throw Pillow

Materials needed:

One yard of fabric per two pillows (you will have some excess fabric.)
Coordinating thread
Pillow stuffing
Sewing machine
Scissors
Measuring tape
Pins
Sewing needle

1. Determine what size you want your pillows to be.  I make pretty standard 15 x 15 inch pillows here.

The cut squares

2. Cut out two 16 x 16 in squares of fabric per pillow.

3. Lay squares of fabric with right sides together (meaning, the pretty sides are on the inside) and pin.  Make sure to double check the print direction if necessary.

Pinned right sides together

 4. Sew around all but about 3 or 4 inches (to flip) of the square using a 1/4 inch seam allowance (or whatever you are comfortable with).  Make sure to back stitch at the beginning and end.

Sewing around the perimeter

Backstitching at the opening

5. Iron and press the seams open, clip the corners, and turn right side out making sure to poke out the corners.

Corners clipped

Ironing everything nice and flat

Flip the pillow right side out.  Can you tell I kept forgetting to take pictures as I went?

6. Stuff the pillows as much as you like.  Be sure to get it in the corners too.

Stuff with fluff (yeah, I just said that)

Almost done

Ready to be closed up

7. Slip stitch the opening closed or do a top stitch with your sewing machine if you don't want to do that much work by hand.  I don't like the look of top stitching on throw pillows (weird I know) so I do things the hard way.  This is the tutorial I used to learn to slip stitch, although I don't sew the opening closed and then rip it out later.  It would probably help, I'm just a lazy seamstress.

Slip stitching the opening closed.

8. Place pillows on couches/beds and sit back and admire your work.

I hope you enjoyed this easy throw pillow tutorial, and I hope it saves you lots and lots of money on interior decorating.  Have you ever made your own pillows?

Donna

Our Purpose

   

From left to right: Anjelica, Donna, and Hollie. 

 
     Welcome to the first post here at Passionate, Mindful, and Content.  This blog was thought up by three women who met and became close friends at a certain stage of their lives.  Now some of us have moved on to different places, and some of us are getting ready to.  Our hope for this blog is that it will help us to keep in touch and share our thoughts and experiences with one another no matter where we are in the world.  The purpose is to write about our lives as Christian wives and mothers (well, one of us is only a mother to her fur babies) in whatever way we see fit.  

     One of us is a southern gal with Puerto Rican roots, one a crunchy midwestern city girl, and one a gypsy military girl, and all of us are different colors.  In spite of our different perspectives, backgrounds, and personalities, we still maintain strong friendships with one another.  This blog is a way for us to share recipes, DIYs, product recommendations, and commentary, among other things.  We hope you enjoy the different viewpoints that each of us has to offer.

     One final serious note: the viewpoints expressed here are our own.  As we have said, we are all very different, strong personalities.  As a result, we don't always agree with one another.  This blog is here as an outlet for all of us and we hope to foster love, acceptance, and respect.  Although the purpose of certain posts may be to debate or discuss, we absolutely will not tolerate cursing, name calling, or any other disrespectful comments and they will be disabled.  This is not to say that we don't want your opinions or feedback.  They just need to be kept clean and respectful.

     So please come on in and have a look around.  If you want to share something with us, please don't hesitate to leave us a comment.