Soft, fluffy, Pillowy Goodness

For my July 4th celebration, I wanted some throw pillows in the traditional red, white and blue, to decorate my outdoor furniture. I don't intend to leave the pillows outdoors, so I used regular cotton fabric in order to get a better variety of pattern and to keep the cost down. I looked for generic patterns, so that I can use the pillows whenever the colors are needed for whatever I'm decorating.

Each pillow took about an hour to make and cost less than $4.00 each....I have an assortment of pillows in differant sizes that I use in my decorating through the year. Making pillow covers, is less expensive than buying loads of pillows and gives me greater versatility...they can also be removed folded and stored in much less space than a group of pillows. I've made some pillow covers in the past, but always put a zipper in the cover, which takes longer and I hate doing zippers. For these covers, I left one end open and added ties to close the ends. I got the fabric on sale at Hobby Lobby for 50% off, so about $3.50 to $3.75 a yard. For the size of my pillows, I used about 3/4 yard for each. You will need some low loft quilt batting as well. If you don't have pillows already, you can find them at thrift stores for $1-$2. Yard and Garage sales are also a good source.

I quilted one side of the pillow cover to give it more shape and because I love the feel of quilted pillows. This was such a quick and easy project that I think I'll be making a lot of these to fit every season and mood that I might have.

All the best,