Upholstery Pillows

First off this week I wanted to thank Kim at seven thirty three blog for featuring me during Creativity Week. I was so excited and honored!


In my last post I mentioned that I wanted to recover some pillows that came with my couch; well we had company in town again this week so unfortunately I didn't get around to it. But one of my readers, MalPal, was telling me about some pillows that she had recovered with fabric from a chair she got from the thrift store. So I thought I would invite her to be my first guest poster!

Hello Rachelle, 

 I have a simple easy craft that anyone with a sewing machine can make.  My daughter found a chair cover at the Good Will a few years ago.  It was in her car trunk while she was at college for about a year, then ended up at the bottom of her closet.   She recently got married and moved out leaving her closet for me to clean out.  I picked it up and was going to re-donate it back to the Good Will but had second thoughts.   I wasn’t sure why she picked it up, why she liked it or even what she wanted to do with it.   As I looked at it I realized what a pretty fabric it was.  

The texture is really a nice weight and the flowers have a beautiful stitch.   So I decided to make pillows for her hand me down couch to try and spruce it up.   I was quite surprised that the fabric as ugly as it looked as a huge piece when cut down to pillow size was quite nice.

I lay the fabric out on the floor to see what size pillows I could make with it.  I found that I could make the pillows 16 ½ “ with the fabric on the front and back.   I cut the pillows then stay stitched all around so that they would not fray.   

Then I put right sides together and sewed a ½ “ seem all around (I was trying to make them as large as I could).   I left one side of the pillow with an opening about 4” wide.   Just enough of an opening for my hand to go in and out with the stuffing.   I used 100% Polyester Fiberfill I got from Wal Mart (you can also use shredded foam).  I pulled the fabric through the opening and ironed the seams flat.  

I stuffed the pillow using a little poly fill at a time.  It is easier to adjust it so that it doesn’t clump and become lumpy.   I really stuffed the pillow full so that when you start sitting or leaning on it the pillow will keep its shape.  I used pins to close the opening so I could sew it shut on the machine.   You can also stitch it closed by hand if you like.   Pillows are so easy to make and don’t take up much time.  I liked the pillows so much I am going to see if there is enough fabric left to make me some.   I will most likely have to back the pillow with a matching fabric since there is not much left.   This is another way to stretch your fabric.

Thanks Mal Pal    



Wow! Those turned out great! What a good idea to reuse old fabric. Anyone else score some GoodWill deals lately? I'd love to hear about great ideas from other readers as well!