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Cushions
You can’t have too many cushions. Cushions add colour, pattern and texture to a room. They soften hard edges of furniture and create a much warmer welcoming space. They can be versatile and fun. You can put a cushion in the small of your back, behind your head, sit on it or have a good old fashioned pillow fight. They are an inexpensive way of brightening your surroundings; you can change them with the seasons for a fresh new look.

I will show you how to make one-of-a-kind, very quick and easy cushions made from fabrics around the house or thrift store or fabric purchased. Always start with a pillow form to help give you focus, then go looking for a garment or fabric with details such as buttons, zippers, embroidery; look for a colour that will both enhance your pillow and be complimentary to your decor. This pillow-making project is suitable for a real beginner, we will only be sewing straight seams; so dust off your sewing machine and we’ll begin.

Instructions for pillow with ready-made fastenings:


This denim dress makes a great pillow for a rec room. Cut a 17” square centering the button closure from the front of the dress and a 17” square from the back of the dress (16” to match the pillow form size plus ½” seam allowance on all four sides). Stitch all four sides and then tuck the pillow form inside and close the buttons.




In this example I used an outdated top that had many buttons, this is a great detail that adds a very professional finish. This top was too small for a 16” pillow form so I used a 14” pillow form. For this size cut a 15” square (14” plus ½” seam allowance on all four sides) from the front and back of this top stitched all four sides and slipped the 14” pillow form inside and fastened the buttons.

Instructions for pillow without fastenings

This example shows a different method of making a cushion from a thrift store find that doesn’t have buttons. I used an overlap closure to encase the pillow form.

  1. Start with a square pillow form. Pillow forms come in a variety of sizes.

  2. Cut out your pattern from cardboard or paper measuring 1” more than your pillow form - the extra inch is for ½” seam allowance on all four sides.

  3. Select fabric from any outdated or unused fabric or clothing from a thrift store.

  4. Piece A – Smooth out the fabric and trace around the pattern with a pencil or chalk. Cut 1.

  5. Piece B - Smooth out the fabric and trace around the pattern with a pencil or chalk ADDING 4” TO ONE SIDE OF THE SQUARE. Cut 1.

  6. Take Piece B and with the two short sides together, cut it in half

  7. Make a ½” fold on 1 end of the longer side of each piece and stitch into place.

  8. Place Piece A on a surface, right side up.

  9. Place Pieces B on the top, right sides down with the stitched edges overlapping in the middle, matching outside edges, pin in place.

  10. Stitch all four sides of square.

  11. Cut corners on the diagonal close to the stitching. If you want to add tassels this is a good time to do it, insert a tassel inside each corner pulling the loop to the outside of the cut corner and stitch across the cut corner catching the tassel loop in the stitching.>

  12. Turn right side out.

  13. Insert Pillow form.

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