Envelope Pillow Tutorial

So I am just now getting into sewing

I feel like once you are a mom you like need that skill haha
and it is safe to say that the sewing bug has for sure bit me

I am by no means an expert

But I am teaching myself and having a blast 

I have been looking for projects to make to practice my skills
and thought I would share a couple tutorials with you
throughout my blog

Since I am working on redoing my bedroom 

from brown and Green 

to Yellow, Turquoise, Brown and White 

I am needing some new pillows 

so I have decided to try to make my own

I know most have made the pillows you sew all the way 

around inside out leaving a little opening 

turn it right side out stuff it with your stuffing 

and then sewing the opening shut

right?

Well I decided to share with you an alternative 

that I am loving 

It is the envelope backing pillow

This way you can change them out for holidays,

seasons, or room color changes using the same pillow form 

which is awesome cuz pillow forms can be expensive!

You can also take them off easily to wash them

and it is just a more convenient way

What you will need:

-fabric

-Fabric scissors

-thread that matches your fabric

-A sewing machine

-pins

-iron

-ruler or tape measure

-pillow form to fluff up your fabric
-any embellishments you want

What you will do:

-First you are going to want to measure the dimensions of your pillow form

-Mine was a rectangle 14 inches X 20 inches 

Also since I wanted this one to be rectangle I just got a Walmart Travel 
pillow for $3 to use for my form
instead of getting an actual pillow form that are $7
I love saving money
And for the rest of mine I am just going to use old pillows as forms
even cheaper!!!

So now I am going to explain measuring the fabric the best I can

-For your main front piece you want to measure an inch extra all the way around for seam allowance 

-So for my 14 x 20 pillow form I am going to cut my material 15 x 21 inches 

Does that make sense?

Ok so that is your first piece all done now set that aside

-Then you are going to cut two pieces for the back creating the envelope overlap

Your two back pieces will be the same size and overlap each other

-the height will be the same as the front piece of 15 inches

-then here is how you figure out the length you will take your length / 2 + 4= new length 

so I took 21 and divide it by two making it 10.5 

then you will add four which makes the length of each piece 14.5 

-So your two overlapping back pieces will both be 15 x 14.5 inches 

I hope that made sense 

If not totally let me know and I will try to explain it better

-The next step is to take your two overlapping pieces and make a seam for them

because you will see these so we want them to look pretty and finished
this is very easy

-I took my piece and marked with a fabric pen very lightly three dots 

at the 1/2 inch mark, the 1 inch mark and the 1 1/2 inch mark like the picture above

Then you fold your piece so the fold is on the first dot and touching the second dot
making it a half inch fold

-then iron that down so you get a good crease

-then repeat and fold it one more time to the third dot so it is another half inch fold
and iron that down

-This makes it a half inch seam which I feel is perfect

One it is folded over twice and ironed down you will pin it

Then you are going to sew the seam as close to the edge as you can

-Then to make it a more finished look I did a second seam right next to it

There was about a centimeter between the two seams 

I just moved the fabric to the next line on my sewing machine

Now make sure to sew the seams on both of your back envelope pieces 

Your next step is very simple

You are going to put your main front piece right side facing up 

(because we are sewing it inside out and then flipping it right side out when we are done)

then you will over lap your two back piece on top with the right facing down so the right sides are facing and touching each other (make sense?)

-Then pin all the way around so it looks like the picture

(I know I went from a white pillow to a yellow one 

but they are the same size and I will revile the front of the white pillow later)

-Next you are going to sew all the way around the pillow 

making sure to do back stitching at the beginning and the end

-You want to sew 3/4 inch in from the edge all the way around 

-Then you are going to turn it right side out

and the back will look like the picture above with all the seams inside

Next you will slide your pillow form right into your envelope openings 

This is the back side again

and it will look all fluffy, comfy, luscious and full 

Cool huh!

And the front will just look like a normal front

With whatever embellishments, patterns, or colors you want

you would never know the back was an envelope

You can do this envelope technique with any kind of 

fabric or design that you want it will even work with burlap pillows 

I hope this was a helpful tutorial

if you have any questions pretty please email me because I would love 

to answer them and make sure you can make your very own 

envelope pillows at home :)

This technique is linked up HERE

and here 

Thank you for all of your support, comments and for following 

Come back tomorrow and link up your fun projects to the show and share party here!

Also stay tuned for a fun pillow design tutorial I will be posting shortly