Sewing a Pillow Cover

A few weeks back, as things continued to get closer to being "done" in the living room, I decided to tackle the pillow cover that I have been meaning to put together for the other pillow on the couch.   I first bought this fabric to make pillow covers for the condo, but never ended up making the pillow covers.  So I brought the fabric with me, which was good because I have an old bedroom pillow that is the right size but wrong color for the couch.

The basic pillow pattern is one piece for the front, measuring the size of the pillow plus one inch added to the height and the width (assuming half inch seams).  The back is two pieces, the width of which is that of the pillow plus an inch.  Each back piece should also be half of the height plus three or four inches (assuming one inch for the seams, 3/4 of an inch to finish the seam, and fabric for overlap).

The first step is to finish the overlap seams.  Iron a double quarter inch seam along the width of each piece, and finish it on your sewing machine.  Then, lay the two back sides on top of the front (right sides facing in) and pin the edges.

Sew the outer edges of the form, moving around the outside.  You can reinforce the start and end sections, but I just started and then moved around to the end.  I do then do a few reverses, but I'm not sure that they are necessary.  Trim the corners.

Once the pillow cover is finished, turn it inside out, and stuff it!

Voila!  New pillow for the couch.  On to the next project.  I can't tell if I'm excited to finish these projects, or if I will ultimately be depressed when there is nothing left to do!  I'm leaning towards excited, especially now that I have a television to waste my time.

:)