How to Make a Pillow at Home That Looks Professional

Everyone loves to get a more productive and efficient sleep in their daily schedule. Pillows play an essential role in getting a night of good sleep. Most individuals keep two to three pillows on their beds.

Different types of pillows and pillowcases are available in the market to cover a wide range of shapes and contents. Sometimes, it gets difficult to find a ready-made pillow or pillowcase cover that fits your requirements.

To accommodate the need of your décor and to polish your sewing skills, why not learn how to make a pillow for your living room, bedroom, balcony décor, or even give it as a gift?

In this pillow-making guide, you will learn everything you need to want to make a beautiful pillow for your home.

Table of Contents

How to Make Your Own Pillow: Some DIY Ideas

According to the National Sleep Foundation, Americans sleep with 2.2 pillows to have a healthy sleep. Pillows are still manufactured in great quantity in the United States.

Some brands offer soft pillows, while others provide hard pillows. You can buy it as per your needs, but what if there is a way to make a pillow at home with minimum effort and dollars?

Pillow making is one of the best ways to polish your sewing skills. Even though you’re a beginner who has just started how to make different types of clothes at home, you can still make a pillow on your own.

Before you dive into making a pillow for yourself or a family member, here are some DIY pillow-making ideas to help you choose the best style.

- Retro Gingham Pillow
- DIY Tasseled Throw Pillow
- Quilted Velvet Pillow
- Dresden Plate Pillow
- DIY Gold Foil Brush Stroke Pillow
- Bias Tape Weaving Pillow
- French Seam Envelope Pillowcase
- Scandi Throw Pillow
- Quilted Patchwork Pillow Cover
- DIY USA Map Heart Pillow

Here are some additional creative pillows for your kids:

- Food Pillow
- Cheeseburger Pillows
- Raspberry Pillow
- Unicorn Emoji Pillow
- Round Cushion Pillow
- DIY Pillow Dolls for Baby Girls
- No-sew Emoji Pillow
- Star Blush Pillow

Image Source: Pinterest

How to Make a Pillow Step by Step Instructions

Pillows are something that makes a person sleep with peace. They are not just used for sleeping purposes, but they can be used to decorate your rooms.

Once you have decided which type of pillow you want to begin your journey of how to make a handmade pillow, then you can proceed with this section.

Image Source: Magda Ehlers On Pexels

In these simple pillow-making step-by-step instructions, we will cover everything you need to know to make a beautiful pillow at home.

Right from choosing the supplies and fabrics to measuring and cutting, learn to sew all the basics of making a pillow at home.

Choose the Right Size

Pillows come in different sizes. Here are the dimensions of the three sizes of pillow inserts.

Standard	Queen	King
21 x 31 inches	21 x 35 inches	21 x 41 inches
(53.3cm x 78.7cm)	(53.3cm x 89cm)	(53.3cm x 104.1cm)

The finished size of the pillow cover is larger than the actual inserts. This tutorial will give you an excellent loose cover, and you can adjust it as per your needs.

Supplies You’ll Need

Image Source: Anete Lusina On Pexels

- Sewing threads
- Fabric
- Needle
- Brown paper
- Pillow inserts
- Yardstick or square
- Tape measure
- Pencil
- Scissors
- Straight pins
- Sewing machine

Choose Your Fabric

You can choose different types of fabric to make a pillow but make sure to define the pillow’s purpose. If you are going through this guide for how to make soft pillows at home for good sleep, then make sure the fabric feels good against your skin.

If your pillow is used as a decorative piece, then choose a fabric that matches your furniture. Every fabric comes with care labels that will help you with the washing and ironing instructions. Don’t forget to check it.

Remember, the sky is the limit when it comes to choosing a fabric for making a pillow.

Here are some recommendations:

- Soft types of cotton fabric with high thread count works well for sleeping purpose
- Brocade, satin, or velvet fabrics work well for decorative pillows

Cutting Instructions

Start by cutting your fabric into two squares or just rectangles of the same size. Make sure you add half an inch to each side for the seam allowance.

Image Source: The Spoonflower Blog

Cutting the fabric pieces depend on which pillow size you want. If you are stuffing it with a pillow form, you need to cut the material with a similar shape and size as the form. This will give you a nice, fluffy pillow.

A surge or zigzag stitch can be applied on the edge of the fabric that is prone to frying.

Fold the Fabric and Pin It

Place two fabric pieces together and keep the right side in. Use sewing pins to secure three edges and leave the other edges unpinned so that you can turn the pillow on the right side with ease.

Image Source: Mood Fabrics

Pin the Pieces Together and Sew

Use a matching sewing thread and start sewing a long straight stitch with half-inch seam allowance. This will help you understand where to fold the fabric when you hand sew the edges.

Remove the pins as you proceed on your journey of how to make a beautiful pillow. Stop at two inches from the bottom edge corner for the pillow form.

Note: If you are using a sewing machine, backstitch from the start and end of the fabric so that the stitches don’t come undone.

Turn the Pillow Right Side

Now, turn the pillow with the right side out. If you are using heavy types of textile fibers, then trim all four corners to reduce bulk.

Don’t cut too close to the seam stitches. You can use your fingers to push the corners out once you turn the fabric on the right side out. It will help your pillow look nice and sharp.

Iron It

In the next step of how to sew a pillow, you need to go to the open edge of the handmade pillow. Fold the raw edges by a half-inch and press them flat with a hot iron.

Image Source: Fabric.com

This will act as an indication of when you are ready to sew all the edges and personalize them with hang tags from Superlabel Store.

If you don’t have an iron, then you can use pins to separate folded edges. Do not pin them together, or you won’t be able to stuff your pillow.

Insert the Pillow Form

In this step of how to sew a pillowcase, you just need to insert the pillow form so that it can look amazing and full. In case you have a rectangular pillow cover, then here are some measurements for the pillow insert:

Rectangular Pillow Cover Size (inches)	Pillow Insert Size (inches)
11 x 23	12 x 24
12 x 16	12 x 16
12 x 18	12 x 18
12 x 20	12 x 20
12 x 24	12 x 24
14 x 20	14 x 20
14 x 24	14 x 24
15 x 18	15 x 18

Many people use polyester stuffing as it is available, and you don’t need to face the hassle of going here and there to find it. Just purchase it from a fabric or craft shop.

Image Source: Sailrite blog

Great! It’s Ready to Use

In the last step of the DIY pillow-making tutorial, you need to pin and sew the open edges over a half-inch. You can do this by hand or use a blind or ladder stitch. Use a matching thread when using a sewing machine.

Remove all the pins once you are done. Check if the stitches are tight or not. Don’t forget to backstitch at the beginning and end.

Image Source: Max Vakhtbovych On Pexels

So, this tutorial was all about how to make a pillow with step-by-step instructions. It takes about 15-20 minutes to make a beautiful pillow for your home with a fraction of the amount. So, why not try at home?

Once you are done making a beautiful pillow for you or your kids, then you can read out guide on how to make curtains to upscale your home décor.

Tips and Tricks on How to Make a DIY Pillow Look Amazing

TADA! You have just made a beautiful DIY pillow for your home.

What if there are some easy tips that help you make your simple-looking pillow a more professional and stylish look?

Sometimes it happens that the DIY pillow that you made for a particular room doesn’t match in color, pattern, or style. In that case, you might be disappointed that your efforts are wasted now. Don’t worry. It is not yet.

There are many ways you can mix and match pillow patterns that can help you make your DIY project more attractive for any room.

It doesn’t require that many things. You can just use some stuff found in your home. If you don’t have time to go shopping to buy some accessories, then don’t worry.

Here are a couple of tips to guide your choices and simplify the process of decorating the pillow.

Choose Three Colors

The most crucial tips for choosing the right colors to follow are how to make an easy pillow. It is recommended to use three different colors combined from different sources such as the rug, wall, or curtains.

Image Source: Ballard Designs

Here are a few examples of the color combination that you can use:

Deep red + orange + deep green

Dark green + magenta + gold

Deep blue + pink + deep red

Violet + magenta + mustard yellow

Choose Three Patterns

Another tip is to choose three patterns matching each other and the three colors you just select. Picking the primary pattern is easy. Make sure your main pattern incorporates at least one or two colors.

Here are some examples of mixing ideas:

One buffalo check + one ticking stripe + one toile

One floral + one solid color + one geometric

One chevron + one knit texture + one dotted

Break the Rules If You Want

If the above listed three colors don’t work for you, then you can add the fourth color to see if it looks great in your room. Or, just take two large patterns. Now you know the Rules of Three, but all rules are meant to be broken.

The goal is to make everything look great using the Rule of Three. If you follow this formula, you will be 100% see some stylish results.

Image Source: The Spoonflower blog

Don’t be afraid to experiment with different things while making a pillow at home. It’s your own project, and you are the owner. So do whatever you like to make it super amazing!

Conclusion

Pillows are easy to sew and cheap as compared to other clothing items. They are everyone’s favorite, so why not try making some cute or simple pillows at home?

It will help you enhance your sewing skills and make your house look more attractive.

Pick your pillow type and follow the above-listed sewing steps at home to make a beautiful pillow for you and your kids. Let your guest see your handmade pillows and appreciate your extraordinary sewing skill.

Don’t forget to give a personalized touch to your handmade pillow by getting super easy, customizable, and superior-quality hang tags and woven labels.