I’m going to let you in on a little secret – I buy cloth napkins like they’re going out of style – and not once has our family used cloth napkins at the dinner table (I’ve got young kids, cloth napkins are definitely not gracing our table anytime soon!) Instead I turn those napkins into the easiest pillows ever.
I buy napkins that are square – Pottery Barn, West Elm, some Target. Typically, they’re 20″ which works with the 20″ pillow forms I’ve collected.
I use zippers to enclose the pillowcase, preferably invisible zippers; I buy the 20-22″ zippers and cut it to the length I need. The zipper will come with it’s own set of instructions…follow them. If you need a little more help, search YouTube. Do not let a zipper deter you from this easy project, even with the zipper they come together in less than 30 minutes.
You’ll iron the zipper flat and then pin it to the right side of your fabric and sew with a zipper foot. They will recommend a special invisible zipper foot – never used one – just use your regular zipper foot and you’ll be fine.
After you sew the zipper on one piece of fabric, you’ll sew the other side of the zipper to the other piece of fabric and you’ll have something that looks like this:
Proceed in sewing right sides together around the remaining three edges, just make sure you’ve unzipped the zipper just a bit so you can turn it right side out…not that I’ve learned that the hard way!!
I love that the napkins already have a finished edge so it makes it really easy to finish them up.
In order to get a nice crisp corner, once all the edges have been sewn, I take my scissors to the corners and trim them up. Cut the corner completely off and taper the edge out.
Turn the pillows right side out and you’re done. They really are that easy – no cutting fabric to size, no finishing edges…easy peasy! This same pillow was in the store at the time I bought the napkins – but I made mine for less than a quarter of the cost.
Now get to the stores and start finding cheap napkins!
See more of my adventures and projects at www.lifewithfingerprints.com
Joyce says
Your pillows are so pretty. I have been doing mine by hand for years by whip stitching the napkins together. They have been laundered many times and still look new. Luv rotating the pillow styles and saving money is the bonus…..
Thank you for the post.
Kara says
I’m happy to find someone else that shares my love for napkins!!
Sydney @Tastefully Frugal says
These are darling… And so easy to make. I need to find some cute napkins and make these stat!
Kara says
Good luck and let me in on any fun places you find inexpensive napkins!
Heather says
I love these! Do u use an actual pillow on the inside or stuff it yourself?
Heather says
Nevermind…I totally just reread where you posted that you use pillow forms. 🙂 Can’t wait to make my own.
Deb E / Oregon says
I also use cloth place mats I find in the stores. Found several that were beautifully quilted, and used two to make a rectangular pillow for my bed, and used the other two as table toppers on the nightstands…beautiful!