Making Quilted Pillow Cases for Throw Pillows

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Pillow cases are a great quilting project. They let you get your quilting fix in a much shorter amount of time. I also like making pillow cases because they show off my pretty fabric and don’t take up too much room in the linen cabinet.

I especially love making seasonal quilted pillow covers. I’ve made several for Christmas and Halloween. It’s a great holiday quilting project when you don’t have much fabric.

Today I’m going to show you how I made these quilted Halloween pillow covers. They are essentially a quilt block sewn to some backing fabric with a zipper closure. This project is fun for using up little bits of fabric and dressing up your throw pillows for the holidays.

Note: This is more of a template than an official pattern. I’m not providing specific measurements or quilt block instructions, so you can get as creative as you want!

Supplies for Making a Quilted Throw Pillow Cover

For this project, you will need the following:

• Various pieces of quilt fabric (scraps or charm packs work great)
• Backing fabric
• Quilt batting
• A pillow form or stuffing
• A zipper
• A regular sewing machine & thread
• Quilt clips
• Rotary cutter, mat, & ruler
• Pins or adhesive fabric spray such as Odif 505
• Zipper presser foot
• Regular presser foot
• Optional: quilting foot
• Optional: Wonder tape

For this project, I recommend polyester quilt batting. I make my pillow cases unlined and polyester batting holds up better. However, I’ve used cotton batting and it has also held up great through multiple washes.

The size of your pillow is completely up to you. Personally, I sew my pillow cases first and then find a pillow form based on the finished size. This isn’t the most precise method, but it lets me get more creative and makes sewing more fun.

How to Make a Quilted Pillow Cover

To make a pillow cover, you will assemble the top much in the same way you would put together a quilt block. Then you’ll quilt the pieces for the top and the back of the pillow. Next, you’ll attach the zipper and finally sew the front and back together.

The pillow I made for this tutorial is made from some pre-cut triangles I had left over from a different project. I’ll briefly walk you through this process if you want to make it exactly the way I did. However, it would be much faster to make half square triangles (HSTs) rather than cutting out triangles and sewing them together. Be sure to follow my HST tutorial as this will save you a ton of time (unless you’re like me and happen to have a bunch of triangles already!)

Assembling the Top

1. Cut your fabric to uniform sizes or create half square triangles to work with for this design.
2. Arrange your fabric or half-square triangles on a table until you like the layout.
3. Make sure you square up your pieces if needed (this means cutting them with perfectly straight edges and 90 degree corners so your blocks line up).
4. Sew the pieces together to create vertical strips.
5. Press the strips with an iron. For best results, press the seams up on one strip, then down on the next strip. This will help your strips interlock and create a neat looking quilt top.
6. Sew your vertical strips together. Your top is now done.

Cutting Backing Fabric & Batting

Using your rotary cutter & cutting mat, cut out a piece of backing fabric that’s the same size as your newly assembled pillow top.

Next, cut two pieces of batting. These should be about 1/2 inch to 1 inch larger than your top and back fabrics around all the edges (see above). This will make quilting a lot easier.

For pillow cases, I personally don’t use a liner fabric on the other side of the batting. If you want a more professional look, however, you can cut a piece of liner fabric the same size as your batting.

Quilting

Use adhesive fabric spray such as Odif 505 to adhere your quilt top to one piece of batting. Repeat by attaching the backing fabric to the other piece of batting. If you don’t have adhesive spray, you can simply pin the fabric to the batting.

Next, quilt the pieces however you like. I use this quilting foot to create free-hand looped designs on my quilts. Alternatively, you could “stitch the ditch” which means sewing in the line between two quilt blocks.

After quilting, be sure to trim off any excess batting around the edges so you have perfect squares.

Attaching the Zipper

If your zipper doesn’t have nice ends, I recommend making a fabric zipper tab for a more decorative touch. Read my zipper tab tutorial for more info.

1. With the right side of the top facing you, pin or clip the zipper along the bottom edge. You will have to decide which edge is the “bottom.” I usually look at my design for things that are upright on the fabric (in this case, jack-o-lanterns) and aim to have those pointing in the right direction when the pillow is used.
2. Use a zipper foot to sew on the zipper.
3. Place the quilted top face down on the backing fabric (right sides together.
4. Pin or clip the zipper to the bottom edge of the backing fabric.
5. Sew the zipper to the backing fabric.

Finishing the Pillow

1. Open the zipper at least a few inches so you can turn the pillow when you’re done.
2. With right sides together, clip or pin around the border of the entire pillow.
3. Sew the two sides together with a 1/4″ seam allowance.
4. Turn your pillow right side out and insert stuffing or your pillow form.