I decided it was time to step up my DIY game and buy a sewing machine! I took a couple sewing classes in high school and my Mom sewed occasionally when I was a kid, but other than that this is very new to me.
Since chevron is so in right now, I couldn't help but make some pillows as my first real sewing machine project.
Materials:
Chevron fabric - $12
Pillow inserts - $18 (with a coupon, of course!)
Cord - $3 (purchased at work)
I started by cutting the fabric panels. Since the pillow inserts are 20x20, I cut 4 fabric panels sized 21x21. This left an extra 1/2" on each side to secure the piping.
Then it was time to sew the piping. I cut a strip of fabric long enough to go all the way around the 20x20 pillow. I changed the foot on the sewing machine to the zipper foot. Apparently it's not made exactly for this task, but it came with the sewing machine so I made it work.
Once the piping was complete, I cut the extra fabric to 1/2" outside the cord. I did this to match the extra 1/2" I left on the fabric panels. I lined the side of the piping up with the edge of the fabric and sewed away. I used a disappearing ink pen to draw the round corner, and sewed carefully. This was definitely the most difficult part of the sewing.
Once the piping was secured to one side of the fabric, I placed the other fabric panel on top and sewed along edge as closely as possible.
Because I'm not an expert and haven't tried zippers yet, I decided to leave a portion of the pillow open and hand sew the rest.
I left one of the corners to hand sew, but if I could do it over I would sew all of the corners on the machine and just leave a straight line to hand sew. A little love and a lot of frustration, but all in all I'm very happy with my new $30 pillows!
