Goblin Gal’s Crafty Corner: Quick and Simple Halloween Pillows

Share

finished

Seasonal decor pillows can be a great way to add a little bit of holiday ambiance to your home. However, with retail bought pillows, you quite often don’t get that bang for your buck. These pillows are often cheaply made and overpriced. (You want how much for some burlap and felt glued together?) With very little material cost and just a little bit of elbow grease, you can easily make some Halloween pillows that are sure to please even the spookiest specters.

We are going to make two types of pillows: a simple square pillow cover and a long rectangular pillow ideal for the back of a couch or mantle. These are simple to make and will be more durable than what you can find retail.

coversdone

Basic Pillow Cover

One of the drawbacks to decor pillows is that they are only on display for a short time. The rest of the year they will be hogging your closet space in all their fluffy glory. Most of us already have pillows from our couch or chair sets laying around, so making some simple slip covers is a great solution. They look great and the covers take up significantly less closet space.

Materials- (will yield two)

  • ½ yard two different Halloween prints
  • 1 spool thread (matching fabric)
  • Scissors
  • Velcro dots
  • 1-2 existing pillows

measuringStep One: Measuring Your Pillows

Pick two coordinating fabrics, we will be using one pattern on each side to make them reversible. Measure your pillows. My pillows are 14 inches, but yours may vary. Next you will need to cut down your fabric to the appropriate size. The square of fabric should be just larger than the pillow. The extra space is for your seam allowance.

I made mine 16×16 to leave me an inch on each side. Though the pillow has extra thickness, I don’t compensate for it in the fabric. Having the cover fit tightly helps make the pillow pouf nicely and keeps you the fabric smooth across the surface.

finishededges

Step Two: Finishing Your Edges

Once you cut your squares, finish all your edges. Yes, it’s a pain, and yes they will be on the inside where they won’t be seen. Finish them anyway. I’m a big proponent of finished seams. They greatly increase the shelf life of your project, especially if you plan on putting it in the washer.

If you choose to leave them unfinished, you must at least designate a bottom side of your cover and finish that edge for both pieces of fabric This is where case will open to insert the pillow, and it will be partially visible, so it will need to look nice.

Step Three: Sewing

Place the two sides together with the right sides of the fabric (the pretty side) in. Sew the sides together along the perimeter, except for a small gap of 8-10 inches along the bottom middle. Note: make sure to complete all corners.

velcroStep Four: Velcro and Finishing

Turn your piece right-side out and insert the pillow for fit. Now that the pillow is in the cover, you can see the alignment of the opening. Now we place the Velcro. I used sticky back Velcro, but you could use sew on as well. Place 3 dots, one half of the Velcro on each side, spread evenly across the gap (every 2-3 inches).

Velcro your pillow shut, and you are all done!

Long Couch Pillow

  • ¼ yard of orange fleece (60 inch)
  • ¼ yard of black fleece (60 inch)
  • 1 spool black or orange thread
  • white felt square (or whatever colors you prefer)
  • Pencil
  • Paper
  • Ruler
  • Fabric or hot glue
  • Stuffing

This pillow will be an actual form, not just a cover, as I doubt many of us have a 9×45 pillow just laying around already.

strips

Step One: Cutting Your Fabric

Cut both of your ¼ yard strips down to 45 inches long. You should now have two pieces that are 9×45.

 

stencilsStep Two: Letters

A) Next, get some printer paper and draw out your letters. They can be any font you choose, but they should be 3” tall. Not feeling it? You can always blow up the picture here to appropriate size and use it as a template.Cut out your stencils.

B) The words “all” and “eve” are made from white felt, and the “hallows” is made from the remaining scrap of orange fleece you trimmed off earlier. Pin the stencils to your fabric and carefully cut out the pieces.

C) Since this is a decor pillow, and unlikely to be used for actual sleeping, I decided to simply to hot glue on the letters on. You can easily stitch them on, or use a good fabric glue for an even sturdier pillow, if you like.

lettersgglued

Step Three: Sewing

After the letters are on lay the panels together, right sides in. Fleece is the best thing ever! It doesn’t fray, so you can tell the hemming to go take a hike (don’t bother finishing your edges).

insideoutAs with the previous pillow, sew the panels together all around the perimeter, save for a gap of 3-4 inches (for turning it right-side out). Notice the gap is much smaller this time. This is because we will be filling it with stuffing, then sealing it up permanently.

 

 

Step Four: Stuffing and Finishing

Turn your pillow right side out, and fill it with the stuffing. Make sure to get stuffing into the corners. I always over stuff the pillows. Use and wear will pack down the batting down over time, so it’s best to add extra now.

stuffingYou will need to finish the bottom by hand, as we did in the Moogle mask article, using an blind stitch. If you are unfamiliar with it, there are a ton of great tutorials on YouTube available. (You are essentially sewing the gap closed by stitching side to side between the gap).

And there you have it, quick and easy Halloween decor for a fraction of the price!

Thanks for crafting with me, and Happy Halloween!

 

 

~ GoblinGal

allpillows2

Share

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.