Pillow recovery--tutorial

Hope all of you are ready for the gastronomic greatness that is Thanksgiving...if you are traveling, safe travels!

You may or may not know that I am new-ish at sewing. I took a class at the craft store a year ago and I am so glad I did. I've had a lot of fun with lots of projects...perhaps I'll feature all of them in a post in the near future. : )

Well, for one of my projects, I was inspired by this......

Our wonderful almost seven year old dog, Chessie, is responsible for that. And that's the pillow insert. I threw away the pillow cover before thinking of taking a pic of that. She does this when we have babysitters over at the house with the kids. I don't know why she has to be so naughty!!! She's perfectly fine when it's just us.


Who would think this cutie could be capable of that??

Well, she did. And so we invested in a muzzle.....: ) Just for when we have the sitters. The pillow put me over the edge.

So, I hand-stitched the pillow insert and decided to make a pillow cover. My mom had given me two old shower curtains she had and the fabric would work well with my other pillows.


I've been using a tutorial here for envelope-back pillow covers. The only thing you have to do is adjust their measurements to the size you have. I really like the envelope back, since they're easy to make and easy to remove to wash (definitely necessary when you have kids!).


I started by washing and drying them, then ironing my fabric.

I used my rotary cutter and mat to measure out the fabric. Basically, you will have the width of the pillow on one side and the other side will be the length of the pillow, plus 4-6 extra inches to make the overlap part of the envelope back on each side. My pillow was 18", so I measured 18"x 36".

Then, I folded over and ironed the ends that would be making the envelope back. These will be the only seams showing on the outside. You fold over twice and iron...then run that through the sewing machine to prevent fraying.

You then lay your fabric out and you measure in from the ends, depending on your pillow size. Make sure you lay the fabric with right side up, since eventually we will turn it right side out (you will be making it inside out). For mine, I measured in 11" from both ends and marked with a pin....the tutorial has a nice diagram. This will be the spot where the fabric folds over to make the front and the back.

 Here is what it looks like with both sides folded over, before sewing the ends closed.

You run each end through the machine. I do mine twice to make sure they will stand up to dog and kids. Once you have done that, you will turn out the corners.

Here you can see the back of envelope and the corner.

And...the finished pillow.

Much better than a chewed-up pillow, huh?

Party Time......

Time Travel Thursday at The Brambleberry Cottage

Fridays Unfolded at Stuff and Nonsense

Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage

Show and Share Day at Just a Girl

Simply Creations Link Party at Simple Home Life

Addicts (not so) Anonymous Addicted to Decorating

Sunday Showcase Party at Under the Table and Dreaming

Project Parade at The DIY Showoff

Creative Bloggers' Party and Hop at Homemaker on a Dime

Tip-Toe Thru Tuesday at Crayon Freckles

Sunday Shake-up at Jacque's Soda Parlor

Fabulous Friday at Ohh Baby
Pinspirational Thursday at The Artsy Girl Connection
Make the Scene Monday at Alderberry Hill
Sunday Salvation at Sassafras Salvation
Tuesday Talent Show at Chef n Training