Pumpkin pillow part 2

Yesterday’s post was all about fabric painting, check it out here. In this post I am going to take that painting and turn it into a very simple pillow cover. This type of pillow cover is super easy which makes it a great jumping off point.

The fabric

For the pillow cover I chose a medium weight undyed linen; it is my favorite material to work with, but for the purpose of this project any woven material will work. I like using natural fibres; linen, cotton and hemp all hold up great to heat and wear.

The first step after prewashing the fabric is to determine the size. I had an existing pillow that I wanted to make a new case for, so I measured its length and height and added 1cm to each side. My dimensions were 46cm by 46cm so I cut out a square of 48cm by 48cm for my front panel, this is the piece that was painted in this post.

For the back of the pillow cover I wanted two pieces to overlap in the center but remain unsewn, so I cut two more pieces at 48cm by 32cm.

Pressing

All three pieces needed to be well ironed to ensure they line up.

On the wrong side of one of the back panels I folded over one of the long edges by 1cm, pressed, then folded it in again by 1cm and pressed, making the hem. On the other back panel I did the same but on the opposite edge. Make sure that, if your fabric is patterned, the pattern will be facing the correct way.

Sewing

I sewed both hems twice, once along the inner edge and again 0.5cm in from the outer edge. I like the look of the double line, but it is not completely necessary.

Next I pinned all three pieces with their right sides together. Laying my front painted panel face up, and laying each back piece down with the hem in the middle and the fold facing up. I straightened it all out and pinned the corners, then the overlap of the three layers in the middle, then added extra pins around the edge.

With all the pieces pinned in place, I sewed around the entire perimeter with a 1cm seam allowance. Then I went around the perimeter again with a zigzag stitch to finish the edge.

I trimmed the corners and turned the whole thing right side out, then pushed the corners out with a pencil and ironed the whole pillow cover making sure my edges where sitting nicely stacked on each other. For a finished look I did a top stich all the way around.

To hold together the flaps at the back I added a button. I marked the center of the back then drew in where the button hole on the top flap. Once it was sewn and cut open I marked the button placement and sewed it on and voila it was done!

I am super happy with the way this pillow turned out, I am a sucker for linen and pumpkins and I made it myself, which is a very rewarding feeling. I plan on making more so my spooky linen dreams come true.