Create Your Own Pillow Form

I love that there are pillow forms to purchase so all those fun pillow covers can be removed and washed, or changed, when needed. Every once in awhile I need or want a pillow of a not so standard shape or size. Now I'm going to share my tutorial for creating my own pillow forms.

Items needed:

Muslin (any color, I usually go with white. If your cover is going to be darker, I suggest getting a darker cotton fabric)

Fiberfill

Sewing machine

Thread

Ruler

Cutting mat

Rotary cutter

Pre-wash material.

Decide what size you want {for this particular project my cover will be 15" x 10"} then add 1/4" all the way around {my final measurement is 15.5" x 10.5"} and cut two. 

Line up the two pieces. In the middle of one side place marks for a width that will allow for your hand to fit in {mine is a 4" opening}.

Because this pillow will go inside of the pillow cover it needs to be just a bit smaller. This will allow for the cover to be placed on and taken off easier. Starting at the bottom 'opening' mark sew around the pillow form using a 3/8" seam allowance until you reach the top 'opening' mark.

*If you want you can also back stitch once or twice on either side of your 'opening' to help keep the seem tight.

*Tip: When getting to a corner sew up until you think you will need to change directions. I even measure to make sure the last stitch is where it needs to be. Leave the needle down, lift the foot and rotate your material. This will help so that the corners of the pillow form will be nice and sharp.

*If you also choose too, you can serge around where the straight stitch is. For a simple pillow form I will just use my zig-zag stitch.

Now turn the pillow form right-side out. Just reach in the opening and pull the right-side out. Then reach back in and use your finger, pencil with eraser or round tip scissors to push out the corners to make them nice and crisp.

Fill the form with Fiberfill to make your pillow form as full as you want.

*I reach in and make sure that some of the fill gets into the corners to help shape the pillow form.

Once you have enough fill in your pillow form push it down a bit to give yourself working room to sew the 'opening' closed. Pull the two sides on either side of the 'opening' and line up the sides of the opening, finger press and even place pins if you would like. Sew right at the edge of the opening from the top to bottom to sew the pillow form closed. On this one I missed a little section, if you do too, simple take it back to your machine and sew it closed.

With this stitch on the outside {even though it will go inside a pillow cover} I still want it to look nice so I simply tie the thread ends into a square knot and cut off the extra.

Voila ~ Pillow form!!