our diy pillow covers

We had four decorative pillows in our living room - I've had them for years and I loved them (super comfy down pillows...and they were a splurge gift from my mother when I moved into my first apartment...which is why I will NEVER part with them.)  As much as I loved them...they did not match the vibe of our home.  They were reds and browns and mustard yellows...gorgeous warm tones actually...but our home has lots of greens and browns.  We thought green-ish pillows would fit the space better.

After pricing pillow-covers around the web, we decided to try and tackle the project DIY style to save $$$.  So armed with my 40% coupon to the fabric store, we picked out two fabrics that are durable home-decor specific. (They ended up costing roughly $9 per pillow...which I still thought was pricey...but it was a weekend adventure worth having with my hubs.)

Tommy found an awesome tutorial online and together we sat down to do it.  In one afternoon we created 4 pillow covers.  And we are crazy proud of ourselves (and keep patting each other on the back for our mad skills).  Here's our pictures:

 

First we measured the fabric.  We created covers for two different sized pillows, but I will give the dimensions for our 20" pillow, as that is the standard size pillow and was super easy.  This is what we cut:
 - one 21" square piece per pillow
- two 13x21" rectangular pieces per pillow

(the two rectangular pieces overlap on the back of the pillow, creating an easy way to enfold the actual pillow)

my crafting weekend look = hottttness...I know.

Since we needed so many pieces cut, I just traced them all after I had the first one cut.  A rotary cutter would have made this VERY easy. 

 The corners had to be rounded out on all of the corners EXCEPT one edge on each of the rectangular pieces.  We used a glass turned upside down to make the edges round. 

 Clara jumped in on the fun while I cut all the corners out.  Look at her all cute in my sling...she feel asleep in about 10 minutes :-)

 I cut with my pinky in the air...I found this very funny...a little prissy...

Then we had to hem the one straight edges on each of the rectangular pieces.
*note:  this was the first time Tommy used my sewing machine...he wanted to try it...I must say his stitches were beautifully straight!!  He ended up sewing two of the pillows! but then he got bored so I took over :-)

Then we aligned all the fabric together and pinned the edges.  (The patterned sides of the fabric face each other, so when the pillow is folded right side out, the decorated edges are on the outside.)  Then the edges were sewed together.

Voila!