DIY Throw Pillows with Piping and Stencil Details

This weekend, I have enjoyed doing some sewing at a leisurely pace.  Since we are almost done with the pop up, I feel like I can slow down and enjoy the rest of our project.  With uncertain weather, we decided to not pop up our camper this weekend and enjoy a little down time.  For me, that meant finishing the last of the sewing - throw pillows.

I wanted to add a few pillows on our seat cushions and on our bedding.  I had plenty of fabric to make these pillows.  This ended up being a relatively inexpensive project.  To make these pillows, I needed:

Wrights 183 9001-29A Cotton Piping, 50-Yard, 1/4-Inch, Natural
Fabric to cover the piping cut in 3 in strips
Fabric for the front and back of the pillows
Invisible Zipper 10" Natural
thread
12 X 12 Sham Stuffer Square Hypoallergenic Pillow Form Insert

I started out by cutting 13 inch square pieces for the front and back of each pillow.  To make my square, I folded over a triangle corned and measured 13 inches on one side and cut.  When unfolded, I had a 13 inch square.  This makes easy cutting.

Folding to cut makes this step easy!

For two of my pillows, I wanted to have the deer theme from my valances incorporated.  I found a deer head PDF online, printed on card stock and cut out.

Deer stencil for bed pillows.

Next, I used double sided tape to tape my stencil on the fabric so that I could paint it on.  I used a foam craft brush and craft paint to stencil my image onto the fabric and let it dry.  This method could be used to stencil initials onto pillows and other simple designs.  Or a simple applique could be used depending on the desired look.  Stenciling the design onto my fabric worked fine for our camper project.

I used craft paint that I already had along with double sided tape to keep my stencil in place.

Fill in the stencil completely with paint and carefully lift.

Final product with stencil. 

Now, I moved on to piping.  I sewed strips of fabric around the piping for each pillow.

I always use a zipper foot to make piping.

I pinned the piping with the raw edges on the outside and facing the right side of the pillow.

When sewing the piping down, I cut the corners with a little v shape to make them lay flat.

To attach the zippers, I sewed down one side of the zipper to the back right side of the pillow.  The goal is the sew the zipper so that the right sides will be facing each other once the zipper is in place so that the pillow can be turned right side out and stuffed with the insert.

Then, I attached the other side of the zipper to the front piece of the pillow with the piping sewn down.

With the zipper attached to both sides.  It is important to pin the remaining sides together to finish.  Make sure to mark with the zipper starts and ends to close around the zipper.

Once stitched around the entire pillow, turn right side out and stuff with the pillow insert.

Pillows can be made of lots of different kinds of fabric and the piping edges can be made to coordinate with various prints.  I enjoy mixing things up a bit when sewing project like this.

Throw pillows can be made in lots of different sizes.  And zipper closures are not a necessity, but I like being able to take off the pillow cover to wash or replace the inserts if I want to.  Invisible zippers are best for this kind of project because they give a neat closure.

Pillows make great gifts and a way to make a space feel homey.  I really feel like these pillows are going to add to my pop up camper space.  Part of this project for me is being able to enjoy camping while feeling at home wherever we go.  Smaller pillows like these 12 inch ones will give me that look and feel without taking up so much space.

The deer pillow is for the bed.  And the print pillow on the right will be on the seat cushions.

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