Pillow Slipcover 101, Tutorial

from this.....

...to this.

 Do you have an old throw pillow that doesn't fit your decor anymore? How about one that is just worn out? You can VERY easily make a slipcover for it. You can even make a slipcover for every holiday or season and change it out when you want! This means you can have one for autumn, one for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc.


 This tutorial is for my daughter in law, who is just learning to sew.  If you know of someone who wants to learn and to save LOTS of money on home decor, send them here! This is a basic project that is so simple many of us never think to do it! 
You can use ANY size pillow. Even a bed pillow will work. 
This is how it's done:

1. Measure your pillow in both directions. A stiff ruler will not wrap around the rounded pillow, so you need something that will. If you have a cloth tape measure, use that, but many of you will not have one. Simply use a piece of ribbon or even string, put one end at the seam at one side and pull across to the seam on the other side. Put a pin on the string or ribbon or hold it with your thumbnail.

 2. Take it over to a ruler and stretch it out to see how long it is. That is your measurement. Mine was 12". Now you need to measure it the other direction, instead of the width, you need the length. Mine was 13". So my pillow is 12" x 13".

 3. Because my seam will be 1/4", I need to account for that when I cut my fabric. I will have a seam on all sides, so I add 1/2" to the length and 1/2" to the width. My fabric will be cut 12 1/2" x 13 1/2". Only cut one piece that size because our back will be in two pieces.

4. Cut two pieces for the back, each piece 1/2 the width plus about 3" for each piece. You only need to "half" one of the measurements. Since my piece is 13" long, half of that is 6 1/2 plus 3" is 9 1/2". So I cut two pieces each 12" x 9 1/2". The 3" is not critical. You just need the two pieces to overlap. You can make that overlap as much as you want as long as you can stuff the pillow in. The bigger the pillow, the deeper the overlap you should have. With a bed pillow, I might overlap the two back pieces as much as 8".
You notice the glue stick I have there? You need to turn your raw edges under. It is much easier to turn them with a glue stick before sewing. First turn it under about 1/4" with the glue stick. Press with an iron.

5. Turn it under one more time and press again.

6. Now sew this down on both pieces.

7. Lay both pieces down and overlap them so that they measure 13 1/2". Pin them together at the overlap so that they stay together.

 8. Lay the pinned back and the front together with the right sides together on the inside.

9. Sew it together all the way around. You don't need to leave a space for turning right side out.

10. Turn it right sides out through the overlapped space. Use a chopstick or the closed points of your scissors to push the corners out.

11. Open up the overlapped area so you can put the pillow in.

12. Put one end of the pillow in.......

13. ....and then the other. You're finished! Wasn't that easy? Now when you see a thrift store throw pillow or you have one you don't like, you know how to change it! I used plain cotton, but you can use drapery fabric or anything you can sew. Give it a try! You'll be so proud of yourself!

Until next time....