Hi everyone! Today I'm going to show you how to whip up your very own removable pillow covers without the aid of a sewing machine! These are great to hide any old/ugly pillows or just update your color scheme in a zip!
I actually have a sewing machine (a good friend gave me hers about a month ago, thanks Naomi!) but I haven't had the time to sit down and figure it out yet. I learned how to use a sewing machine in Home Economics during High School, but come on, that 14 years ago and I can't remember anything but having to hold down the foot thing... petal... whatever that thing is called (please don't judge me.)
I've read several tutorials on the "no sew pillow covers", so when I cam across these go-geous clearance priced napkins at Target, I decided to just skip the machine and let hem tape do its thang. I figured I could always go over it with the sewing machine when I figure the thing out...right?
It's hard to see, but this set of 4 napkins was on sale for $2.98!!! So I bought two packages!!
Each napkin is 20" X 20" which is perfect for 14" to 16" pillows.
Are you ready to see how to go:
First, you will need an iron, ironing board, hem tape, 2 napkins (makes 1 pillow), a pair of scissors and a moistened towel (this is going to help the hem tape bind the pieces of fabric together).
After you iron your fabric (which I did, but I must have taken the following 2 pictures in the pre-iron stage since you can still see the creases--I'm still getting used to the sequence of picture taking) Cut one of your napkins in 1/2
Lay these two pieces right side up, with on of your pieces overlapping the other by 2 inches (this is going to be the fold where you insert your pillow)
Note: use the sides of the napkins that are already sowed to make this fold (that way you don't have to hem the sides you cut. Saves work and time!
At this time you can choose to hem these pieces together with your tape on the sides to keep them in place during the process, I didn't. (But only hem the 2" of each side, not the whole thing or you won't have an opening!
Next, lay your other napkin right side down on top of your two cut pieces, like so:
(I moved to the floor for this step)
You can see that you have 2" extra on the bottom due to the 2" you overlapped to create the fold. Cut that extra fabric.
Then, starting with one side, lay your hem tape in between your napkins, making sure that it lays straight.
Now, place your moistened towel on top of your napkin that's is holding the hem tape and iron away.
I let my iron sit for a while and then ironed back and forth. It takes a good 30-45 seconds for the tape to adhere both napkins together.
Do the same to all four sides and you will have one awesome pillow cover! Then, simply insert your pillow and admire your fabulous work like I did!
Here's what mine looked like:
And its backside:
You can see I barely made it on this one. If your pillow happens to make the fold open and show the backside of your old pillow (like my other 2 did) simply take a safety pin to it, not a big deal.
Let's take a look the before and after one more time!
My old pillow wasn't so bad, it's just that I'm in the process of changing the pillow colors to grey and yellow so the colors were no longer working for me. That's the cool thing about these removable pillow covers...you can always change your mind in the future! And trust me, I do that quite a lot!
