3 Ways to Make Custom Pillow Covers

Something was not working in our living room, and I couldn’t figure out what.

We had neutral colors on the walls and floor, a beautiful slipcovered sofa, and brightly colored pillows to adorn it with, but I hated the way it was looking!

When I looked at beautiful homes on the internet I realized I love cool colors like blues and greens. With one “Aha” moment I realized the culprits of my design disaster living room were the pillows. Who would have thought such a small element in a large room could make that big of a difference, but as I removed the reddish, orangey things from the scene, it already started looking better.

So, are you feeling the same way? Like you could have a pretty living room, but your pillows are not working with you, or you are just ready for a change? Well, stick around because I have 3 ways to make custom pillow covers that completely changed my room and it could have the same effect for yours.

There are hundreds of “no sew pillow cover” tutorials on the web, so I’m not going to focus on that aspect in this post. Instead I wanted to share how I saved money by customizing the design myself.

Materials (* indicates affiliate link):

• Patterned Fabric of your choice (1 yard wasn’t quite enough for one of my pillows)
• Painter’s canvas*
• Craft paint*
• Fabric markers*
• Paint brush
• Stencil

This first custom pillow is the easiest: simply pick out a fabric you like. I always head straight to the sale section and found this wonderful grain sack stripe pattern. It just screams farmhouse, don’t you think?

Once you’ve taken that home, cut the proper size, fold the corners over to the back and attach them using your no sew method of choice. The “customized” part of this one is that you got to pick the fabric.

But, what if you would rather be a little more unique and have something that no one else has on your pillows. Or, maybe you couldn’t find the fabric pattern you were looking for? Well, that’s where our next two custom pillows come in.

Painter’s canvas on its own can be quite dull, but it’s cheaper than other fabric, so I grabbed a fabric marker and set to work adding some art to it. I wasn’t too concerned about making a mistake since, well, its painter’s canvas and I had tons of it. I loved the look of script on pillows so I typed some example words out on the computer and printed the page and then free handed them onto the pillow with the page I’d printed as a guide. Warning: this is hard to do with a toddler trying to “help”.

I love coming into our living room and being reminded of who God is and the many names that describe Him. I also love how this pillow turned out. This was the most time consuming of the three.

If you aren’t as confident in your freehand, then this final method is the one for you. While shopping for craft supplies I came across this adorable farmer’s market stencil and felt it would be perfect for the job.

The acrylic craft paint I picked up said it was good for fabric, so I taped the stencil down over the painter’s canvas (before it was put on the pillow) and, with a large paint brush, filled in the stencil spaces. Once that dried, I attached it to the pillow.

At about the same time I was doing these pillows I was also working on several other big pieces for our sad little living room. In one weekend I saw our mismatched and design illiterate living room become the farmhouse dream I’d always pictured.

I give these pillows a big dose of credit for the transformation, because, had they remained the same, their clashing colors would have destroyed the look I was going for.

You can have the same transformation by changing your pillow covers up and your friends will marvel at the custom designs. Have fun with it! You’ll be amazed at the impact some simple pillow covers can make on a room.