DIY pillow cover with piping and zipper

Earlier this week I shared some of the updates I've made to our Living Room. One of my most favorite additions are these pillows I sewed myself! And as promised today I'm sharing a tutorial for how to sew your very own. By no stretch am I an advanced seamstress - I literally purchased my first sewing machine a little over a month ago. These pillows were my second sewing project so when I say sewing your own pillow covers is easy… it's really easy!

What you'll need for a 26"x26" pillow cover

1 yard of fabric ( I was inspired by Sarah's DIY pillow and used Premier Prints Zippy Cloud Denton) for $13

scissors

invisible zipper

piping

thread

pins

sewing machine

sewing grid or tape measure

26" pillow insert (I got mine at Ikea for $9.99)

Step 1 - fabric cuts

Cut fabric into 2 pieces (cover front 26"x 26", cover back 26"x 26"). Tip: if you are using a fabric with a pattern try to cut your pieces so that the patterns for the front and back pieces line up.

Step 2 (optional) - piping

I decided to add a little color detail with turquoise piping on these pillow covers since a lot of the decor in our living is super neutral. Take your cover front right side up and pin the piping about an inch in from the edge. The finished edge of the piping should be facing in towards the center of the cover front, raw edge of the piping facing out towards the edge of the cover front.

I bought two packages of piping for my 26"x26" pillow because I knew one package would not fit all the way around the perimeter. So I cut a small piece of piping from the second package and pinned it into place to fill in the empty spot.

Step 3: sew piping

Next comes the fun part. The actual sewing part. Sew the piping in place to the cover front - try to stitch exactly on the stitching of the piping.

Step 4: install zipper

Like I said - I am a beginner. There may be a better way for this process but this is how I installed the invisible zipper. First, pin the zipper (zipper teeth facing in) as close as possible to the piping on the cover front. Then sew it into place - sew as close as possible to the zipper teeth. Tip: I heard using a zipper foot on your sewing machine makes this process easier… but I don't have one and it worked out just fine.

Step 5: Cover back

Fold the bottom of the cover back in about an inch and iron flat. Then lay the cover front and back facing each other (nice side on the inside). Try to line the patterns up so that when they are sewn together the pattern flows from the front cover to the back cover. Pin the zipper (teeth side facing out) to the bottom fold of the cover back. Then sew it into place - again sewing as close to the zipper teeth as possible.

Step 6: Sew pillow cover

Pin around the entire perimeter of the cover front and back (nice side facing in!). Then sew the cover front and back together following the same stitch line you created when sewing the piping to the cover front.

Tip: when you get to the bottom of the pillow cover, pull back the zipper and sew as close to it as possible. Also make a cut at each of the four corners of the cover so that when you turn it inside out the edges will be nice and square.

Step 7: pillow insert

Turn your pillow cover right side out and stuff your pillow insert inside. ….and DONE!

For my second attempt at sewing these are certainly not perfect but I'd give myself at least a B+. I tried my best to get the patterns to line up… not too shabby, right?!