Mar 21, 2012

DIY Pillow Inserts

Recently, I made some pillow covers for my craft room loveseat. For inserts I used a couple of old throw pillows from my family room sofa, and I just wasn't happy with them. They were flat as pancakes and made the new pillow covers look terrible.

New pillow inserts at the craft store come in various qualities, and I'm kind of a pillow insert snob. I don't like the stiff inexpensive foam ones; I like the more expensive soft squishy down or down-alternative ones. But I don't like to pay the high cost for 
them. I figured I could just wait a couple of weeks and buy new inserts during two different trips to the craft store using 40% off coupons each time, which would save me about $15.00. 

Or I could get creative so I could save some money and not have to wait. (Don't you hate waiting?) I went to a nearby store that sells bedding and found this soft squishy just right (as in Goldilocks and the baby bear) king-size bed pillow on sale for $8.00. 

  
I measured to find the middle of the pillow, and while smushing the filling down drew a line across it using a yardstick and pencil. Then I cut all around the pillow cover on the line. 


Next, cutting one scissor-size layer at a time I cut through all of the batting. 


I smushed the batting inside the cover and pinned each opening closed, then sewed it on my sewing machine. As you can see, the line isn't completely straight because I had to smoosh the filling down with one hand while guiding the fabric with the other. A zipper foot may have made this step easier and straighter, but hey, it'll be inside a cover, so no one will see it. 


The two finished pillows weren't perfect squares (18 x 20). I thought I might have to cut the 20-inch side down to 18 inches and sew it also, but trying it out first with some more smushing inside their new covers, they fit just fine and look square.






As always, everything is more fun with Tucker there. 




I figure I saved at the very least $8.00 by remaking a king-size bed pillow into two throw pillow inserts. This project took me about 15 minutes to cut, pin, and sew, and I didn't have to wait for coupons and make two trips to the craft store. You could make this project for free if you have any old king size pillows already on-hand.


I'd love to hear if you have made your own pillow inserts before and how you did it.

3 comments:

  1. How clever are you!:) I have quite a few king size pillows packed away in my basement, thanks for this great tip. You should post this on the "It's a cinch project" that starts on Tuesday. I found you at "It all started with paint" stop by for a blog visit I'm your newest follower.

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  2. Great looking pillows! That's basically how I've done it.

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  3. I never would have thought of that! lol Thanks for the tip! I recently found a throw pillow sale where they only had ugly patterns left and thought that would also be a great idea to just make new covers for them. Much cheaper than buying the expensive batting!

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