new pillow covers!

i love hitting the after christmas sales.  i was in target last week when all of their christmas/winter items were 75% off.  as i was walking by their table cloths, one in particular jumped out.  it was red with white snowflakes.  it had originally been marked $16.99, but with the sale it made it only $4.25 for the biggest one.  obviously it would make a cute table cloth, but then i thought to myself..."that's a lot of fabric for a cheap price, what else could i do with it?  winter throw pillows for the living room!".  i picked up a couple for myself and one for my mom. 

i don't know how to sew really at all.  i can kind of do a wiggly, not straight line, but it's not great.  because of that i always call my mother for her help.  we have covered many a pillows in the past few years.  i found out that crate and barrell's fabric napkins are the perfect size for a throw pillow...you sew two together and voila you have a super cute pillow for not much money...especially when you get them on sale.  so, back to this story...i called mom and had her bring her sewing machine over to help me out.  here's how it works...

items needed:

pillow {i got mine from ikea...feather pillow 20"x20" for like $5}

material {i am using a fabric tablecloth from target $4.25}

velcro squares {$3.50 from joanne's}

buttons {$1.50 or so from joanne's}

sewing machine

thread

needle

step 1:  determine what size you need for your cover.  my pillows are 20"x20" and i knew i wanted the top to fold over with a button.  i needed the width to be 21" to accomodate sewing the edges.  our "pattern" was a long rectangle with a triangle on top {shown in the pic} for the flap.  the overall dimensions were a rectangle that was 21" wide by 40" long plus the fold over triangle which comes to the middle of the pillow, so an additional 10".  is this confusing enough yet? 

step 2: sew the side edges together and hem the edges of the triangle. now you will be able to put your pillow inside the case...but please do a BETTER JOB THAN I DID so that mom doesn't have to redo it for you!

step 3:  sew a button onto the bottom of the triangle flap...we didn't want to mess with button holes and such

step 4:  place 3 squares of velcro along the edges of the triangle flap to hold it down.

finished product!

that one table cloth was 60" x 120" and made me 4 pillow covers and two table runners. 

i got all of that for around $14.00 {already had the pillow inserts}.  that my friends is hard to beat! 

when you are shopping keep your eyes open for great deals and ways you can use them unconventionally!