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How To: Pillow Form Workshop

by on Nov 6, 2008

Making the perfect pillow form is like buying the right bra; it determines if your handmade, custom pillow looks professional and smooth or wrinkly and tacky.  The right measurements and the even distribution of filling are the hallmarks of fabulous throw pillows.  Pillow forms can be cut out of almost any fabric.  Keep the fabric plain and preferably a light color.  Inexpensive muslin always works well.

Your pillow form should be made in the same style as the pillow cover.  If you are making plain knife edge pillows, use a knife edge pillow form. 

 Pillow fillings can be polyester fiberfill, down or a combination of both. 

Sources for pillow fillings:  bed pillows on sale at Wal-mart

                                      filling on sale at Joann Fabrics

                                      out of style throw pillows you already have, tear them open and use the innards

what you need:

  • fabric for the form
  • scissors
  • pins
  • sewing machine
  • ruler
  • chalk
  • polyester filling or down filling

To make sure you get a smooth, wrinkle free finished pillow, you need to have a finished, stuffed pillow form 1″ larger than your finished pillow cover.

For Example: For a finished 20″ square pillow, cut the pillow form fabric 22″ square.  After it’s sewn, it’s finished measurement will be 21″ which ends up a perfect 1″ larger than your pillow cover.

what you do:

1.  Measure and mark the pillow form dimensions on your folded fabric

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2.  Pin around the edges, leaving a 6″ opening in the center of one side.

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3.  Stitch around the edges, leaving the opening unstitched.

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4.  Separating the fibers of the polyester filling, fill the pillow form.

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5.  While filling push the stuffing into the corners of the form.

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6.  Pin opening and stitch closed.

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7. With a long needle, poke through the form covering and manipulate the filling inside the form to distribute the filling evenly. 

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No more flat or bullet pillows-this will be just right!

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