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Decorate My Home, Part 3 – Gathered Pillow Covers

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You know I’ve made pillow slipcovers before…..here. But this time I wanted some real texture on my pillow. I have seen this gathered technique on pillows at the store…..and gave it a try at home.

And came up with this:

And the back is just the same as the tutorial here:

(And the blue/teal pillows in the background were made with the tutorial here as well, and I found that upholstery fabric at Hancock Fabric.  I’m not sure of the name but it was with their home decorating fabric.)

**Fabric: I used an upholstery fabric that was a bit satin-y looking. It wasn’t really stiff like something you’d put on chairs but more like a semi-thick curtain material……so nice and flexible and a bit flow-y. But it can’t be a stiff fabric or it won’t gather correctly.**

To make……measure your pillows.
Mine were 21 x 21 inches from side seam to side seam. And I would need a half inch on all sides for a seam allowance. So if I was going to make a plain front to my pillow, I would just cut out a piece that was 22 x 22 inches. But to have enough fabric to make the gather, just double the width dimension. So I cut out a piece that was 22 x 44.

Then I placed pins all along one of the 22 inch long edges, spacing my 9 pins evenly….making the two outer pins only 1/2 an inch from the edge. (I liked the look of about 2.5 inches between each row of gather. But you could do more or less.)

Then I did the same thing to the other end….and then down the center. These pins are here as a guide as you make your seams. You can also measure your lines and then make a chalk line if this will help you keep a straight line. (But use your original side as a guide when placing your pins along the other edge and down the center. Just lay it on top and place the pins down….this will keep your spacing even.)

Then make a basting stitch (the widest length of stitch on most machines) going the width of your fabric, keeping in line with your pins. The fabric is folded and gathered up because it woudn’t fit into the picture. But those seams go all the way from one side, across the 42 inches to the other side. (zoom on the picture to enlarge.)

Then use a piece from your scrap pile that is 22 x 22 inches. (Never get rid of your scraps…..you’ll always find a use for them!!) The fabric can match if you’d like but no one will ever see it.

Start pulling the top thread of your top seam and gather your fabric. Gather it until it is an evenly spaced 22 inches. Pin it to your scrap fabric piece that you just cut out. (If you need more help gathering, there are a few more tips on this post here.)

Sew it right to that back piece of fabric, right along that gathered seam.

Then start at your next seam down, and do the same thing.

A trick that helped me, was to gather the fabric and then pin both edges to the edges of the back fabric. And then I would space the fabric…

And make sure that your back fabric is laying flat each time you sew a new seam. You want it to keep its original 22 x22 inch size.

Once you’re done with the whole piece, attach it to your back pieces (shown here) to make a slip cover for your pillow.

Put it on.

Instant beauty.

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Comments

  2. Hi! I LOVE your blog by the way. And, I have a question :o) What type of fabric did you use for your pillows, and do you need to have a special needle to sew it?

    Thanks!

  3. My fiance just moved into a new apartment and I will be joining him after our wedding, so my whole life has been obsessing over home decor items that I can make to help "feminize" what he has turned into quite the spartan Bachelor Pad :) These pillows will be a beautiful addition to our master bedroom. Thanks for the wonderful tutorial!!

  6. Oh, good question about the material. I will go add that to the tutorial….right near the top of the instructions. Thanks Teandra!

    And that's funny about a spartan bachelor pad Courtney. I can only imagine! :)

  9. I love this, what a great idea! I just decided a few days ago I need some new pillows! I might do this!

  11. Ashley, this must be my favorite pillow tutorial so far. Thank you for sharing.
    My husband may raise an eyebrow or two (even though he may not dare say anything) if I put some of these in my already girly living room.
    I think I may do Bright Pink Gathered pillows for the girls' bedroom instead. :)

  13. Lovely! And it made me think that it would be a nice technique for a smocked-look dress for a little one as well, with the backing fabric becoming a lining. Inspiring! Thank you!

  15. I just wanted to tell you that I LOOOOOVE your blog and I want to do every project I've seen lol. I just got a sewing machine for Christmas so I'm really excited to get started!!!

  17. This is really beautiful. I'm excited to make my own. Thank you for your blog and all your free tutorials! I made the dolly diapers (with a matching changing pad) this year for all my little nieces. They were a definite hit.

  19. How beautiful! Love all those "rows" of ruffles. Such a fabulous idea!

  21. So I hope you don't mind that our homes will look exactly the same! because basically i want to do everything you are doing haha! The pillows are awesome

  22. Gorgeous pillow, and wonderful tutorial! I will be using these in my daughter's new room, once we finish building and get around to decorating. Thanks!

  26. Cute! My fiance says he likes throw pillows "that feel cool"–one with beading, sequins, fuzziness… I think he would like this one as much as I do!

  28. putting the scrap fabric behind to keep it square is a great idea. I'm going to try this sometime, for sure.

  30. This is awesome! I'm needing some new pillows, too and may give this a try. Thanks so much for the great tut!

  32. Lovin' those gathers….I am definitely going to be trying this one…thanks for the tutorial!

  34. I love love love this pillow–although I have to say that I was a little sad you thought of Michael Miller mirror ball fabric as scrap! It's my fave fabric ever!

  37. Oh Kelly, I don't really think the Michael Miller fabric is scrap fabric as a whole…..I just had that small piece of it in my scrap pile. Hahaha……and I actually bought 10 yards of that same fabric when it went on sale at fabric.com. (I was afraid that they would no longer stock it!) So I share the same love for it as you! :)

    I'm glad you're all liking this one. It really is a funky texture to have with you on any couch, bed or chair. Go for it!

  38. Yay! I've been wanting to make some slipcovers for my new Euro pillows on my bed and I wasn't quite sure how I would go about doing this… Love it! Thanks so much for all your wonderful ideas. I love your blog!

  40. this is soooo beautiful, can't wait to make one. It's so nice to make a plain fabric look so great!

  44. um, WOW. thank you for that tutorial, i never would have guessed that was something i could do! thanks for the inspiration! :)

  46. This is so pretty! I would love to try this for pillow in my guest bedroom…once I pick out bedding!

  47. Love the pillows!! Our couch looks exactly like the one in the photograph! I've been looking for a way to spruce them up – Hooray! Problem solved!

  49. This is exactly what I needed! I'm still plugging away at the curtains, but bought the fabric for pillows at the same time. I've been stressing over making them and coming up with a unique pillow that ties the regular ones all together and this is it! Thanks! Hopefully I'll be posting a successful version of your pillows on my blog soon.

  50. i was going to make some curtains like this..and i was wondering how i could get them right…and i think with you inspiration they might just come out looking good…thank you.

  53. Can I ask where you got the fabric (or whole pillow if you didn't make it!) for the pillow behind it? The brown and blue. I LOVE it! Once I have more time I plan on doing this pillow tutorial too!

  54. OH MY GOSH!!! Can I just say you are freakin amazing! I can't wait to make some cute pillows for my house!

  57. Ashley, you keep amazing me with your talent for figuring out how to do things I wouldn't even attempt otherwise! I'm learning so much from your blog, and happily filing it away for future use!

  59. I have already made one for my daughter's room and now I am addicted–thanks for the fun idea!!

  64. this is absolutely beautiful! i think i will try to make this this weekend. i'm in desperate need of some new fresh pillows for our somewhat newly decorated bedroom. :) thanks!

  67. love your blog…quick question on the pillow tutorial. I left the gathering threads in and sewed each line down…but i didn' care for the two lines of thread showing-felt it looked kind of of sloppy (probably because they didn't run exactly together all the way across). I pulled all the gathering threads out after sewing all the lines down,,,,did you? Thanks for all the tutorials..super fun to read!

  68. I know you get a TON of comments, and this post was made a long time ago, but I just wanted to thank you for inspiring me. I've been lurking around your blog for some time now, admiring what you do. It was with some reservation that I actually attempted to make something from your blog. I made one of these gathered pillows, and found that you are much more talented than I realized. This was not an easy project for me – I had to unpick only once, though. My dimensions were way off when I was done and could not use the pillow form I had planned on, but opted for regular stuffing instead. In all, I think my pillow turned out quite nicely, I got kudos from my husband for using the sewing machine he bought me years ago, and I feel pretty good about myself. I made a post on my own blog (http://visnaws.blogspot.com/2010/03/if-i-dont-say-so-myself.html) if you care to see my version of your much-more-professional pillow. Thanks a bunch for sharing your talents with us bumbling beginners. :)

  70. Love it! I'm in the process of making slipcovers for my living room throw pillows and I'm so excited to make one with great texture like that! Thanks for the great tutorial!

  72. whew, it's good to hear that others struggled as much as I did with this one. i think my first mistake was getting such silky fabric. I think I'm going to go back and get the same color, but in cotton fabric, then my stitches wont be all over the place! I love this pillow though so I'm going to give it another shot! Thanks for your awesome blog and keep posting! I'm amazed at how creative/talented you are!

  75. WOW! This is a great looking pillow! Thank you for sharing your tut with us….very easy to understand.

  76. I like this pillow cover! i will definitely do this. thank you for nice tutorial ;)