DIY Christmas Throw Pillows

I've been seeing lots of cute Christmasy pillows out there lately, but unfortunately they have big price tags. $30 for a little throw pillow???  I don't think so.  While I was out browsing around, some really pretty napkins caught my eye and I decided I could use those to make my own throw pillows.  When all was said and done I paid about $14 for each of my pillows.  You can do this for even less than that if you already have some throw pillows that you just want to re-cover.  I didn't have any so I had to buy the pillow forms, which cost me about $5.75 each (on sale and with a coupon).  Here's how I made them...

I purchased two 20" x 20" cloth napkins (they came in a set).  I found mine at Target.  You can mix and match and have contrasting colors/patterns--it's up to you.  I also found some cute appliques (at JoAnn's) on some hand towels, so I grabbed those as well.  I just wanted a little something extra on the plain fabric, but they can be left as is, of course.  I carefully cut the appliques off of the towels to sew onto my pillows. I also purchased 14" x 14" pillow forms (at JoAnn's).

Iron your napkins.  Working one napkin set/pillow at a time, lay out and trim one napkin to 15 1/2" x 15 1/2".  Lay out and trim the second napkin 18 1/2" x 15 1/2" and then cut the 18 1/2" in half but not exactly in half. Cut one piece about 7" leaving a 11 1/2" piece.  This doesn't have to be exact, but you want two pieces that overlap.  The reason for this is we will be making an envelope backing for the pillow--no buttons or zippers to deal with :)

Press the raw edges of the two back pieces 1/2". Sew using a 1/4" stitch. You are only sewing the two raw edges that are in the center, not the outside edges.

If you are adding an applique, sew it onto the front of the pillow before continuing.

With right sides together, lay the two pieces you just hemmed onto the front piece.  The back pieces should overlap, with the clean/hemmed edges toward the center of the pillow. Match up the corners and pin the edges together.

Using a 1/2" stitch, sew along all four sides.

When you're finished sewing, snip each corner, like so:

Turn right side out, push the corners out neatly (you may need to use a chopstick or something like that to push them out fully).  It should look like this in the back when you are done.  Now all you have to do is slide your pillow form in.

If you have any questions just let me know.

Happy Holidays!

Lady by the Bay