Friday, October 3, 2014

Making Pillows From Pottery Barn Napkins



I love Pottery Barn's seasonal pillows. They always seem to have just the fabric and print that I would love adding to my home. This year they offered their "painted pumpkin" accessories and I fell in love with how soft the colors were, and how well they would transition from Fall to Halloween to Thanksgiving. Three months of use for that print. Perfect!


 Not so much the price. I didn't want to buy the outdoor pillows, I don't like storing pillows with built in inserts, takes up way too much space. I would have to spend over $60 to get two pillow covers for my sectional. In looking at the other items in that line I noticed they had a set of 4 napkins. And they measure 20" square. Plenty of fabric for a pillow. The napkins cost around $25 ( they are sold out now)


I picked out some fabric from my stash for the back side of the pillows. If you wanted you could simply sew two napkins together and stuff with an insert or poly-fill, but I wanted a cover I could remove and adding a simple back allows you to make 4 pillows. (or use the other napkins around the house) In this case I picked a natural colored linen blend. I already had it, so it didn't add cost to this project. 


Next I cut two pieces of fabric the same height and about 3/4th the width of the pillow. I'm making an envelope opening, no need to fiddle with sewing zippers or buttons. 

Next I did a double fold and sewed a seam to cover the raw edges that will be the opening side.

I sewed this seam on both back pieces. I then lay the pieces over the back side of the napkin and pin in place while turning the edges over. I pin it so the edge just covers the seam Pottery Barn put when the finished the napkins. 


The two pieces will overlap in the middle and I simply tuck the top edges under each other and pin.

Using my machine I top stitch over the original seam. This seam will now look like a small flange on the finished pillow. Go slow.. don't forget to remove the pins on the underside as you go.. and I use a finger pressed on the seam to make sure my fabric is still under it while I'm sewing.


The end result is a pillow that fits an 18" insert well. 

The back side.. (needs an iron)

I made a second one also, choosing one that showed more of the orange pumpkin.

If you wanted a 20" pillow you could pull out the napkins finished edge and sew a regular edge.. I may do that with the other two. For now I will enjoy my two new pillow covers and use my other napkins around the house. 





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4 comments:

  1. That is a really pretty pillow! Thanks for sharing!

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  2. Terrific knock off Kristina. The cushion looks fabulous and I'm delighted to be featuring it on Shabbilicious Friday tomorrow.
    Hugs ~ Kerryanne

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  3. Oooh, I LOVE these gorgeous pillows. The flange is perfect. It dresses up the pillow; kicks it up a notch so that it looks like a designer pillow. Pinning this and can imagine using your wonderful tutorial to change out pillows with the seasons. So easy to store just the cover rather than the whole pillow. Thanks for sharing, Kristina. xxx ~ Nancy (Visiting from Shabbilicious Friday and new follower.)

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  4. I'm glad you guys liked it. I'm sure enjoying them in my living room. I'm so excited to be featured on Shabbilicious Friday. :)

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