DIY: Easy Pillow Sham Tutorial

February 3, 2013

My daughter decided it was time to change her bedding set, and I thought why not do a DIY project again and let her decide what she wanted.  First of all, she loves pink, so I had an idea on what to work with. We went to a fabric store and buy some fabric she wanted. Now that we had everything we were ready to start our easy Pillow Sham Tutorial.

Material Supplies:

  • Ribbon (1/8)
  • Fabric (cotton duck-2 yards or less, but I always like to buy more just incase)
  • Thread (white or matching to fabric)
  • Scissors
  • Standard Pillows ( I know you have that in your house already)

Let’s cut out the following pieces that you will need for your Easy Pillow Shams:

  • You will need to cut out Two rectangles – 29 inches  x 22 inches
  • You will need to cut out Four rectangles – 22 inches x 20 inches

Before I start to sew, I like to be prepared and see everything in an organized manner.  Start out by arranging the four pieces in sets of 2.  We will be hemming the sides of both pieces.  Go ahead and fold half an inch and iron another half an inch. You will do this on both sides (left and right side of the rectangle pieces).
Now, take the larger rectangle piece and turn in right side up. Then take your 2 rectangle pieces that you just sewed, and place that on top of the larger rectangle piece.  Make sure that the small pieces will overlap one another (that will be the opening to insert the pillow in).

Go ahead and pin all around the edges and sew around the complete  case. When you are done, turn the case inside out.  At this point you can iron your sham.

Then, turn the entire case right side out. Poke the corners out with the tips of scissors or a knitting needle. Iron the seam all the way around. Now you will sew all around the case again, but now on the right side.  You will measure 1 inch around the sham to give you a beautiful sham border.  Pin it and sew all around.

To give it it that little extra little decor, I added some cute little ribbons on top of the sham (both right and left side of the sham).  I also added on to the back of the sham 4 pieces of 6 inch  ribbon (where the opening of is to insert the pillow). Tie two nice bows in the back of the sham and it will keep the pillow nice and tidy in the sham.

There you have it.  Now you can make your own adorable shams.

Happy sewing.

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13 Comments

  • Reply Robyn February 4, 2013 at 1:25 am

    love this! I’m all about DIY projects and this one looks so easy 🙂 super cute and will definitely be something I keep in mind when it comes time to change our daughter’s set here soon.

  • Reply daisy February 4, 2013 at 2:38 am

    Super cute!

  • Reply Pamela R February 4, 2013 at 11:26 am

    theses are super cute and quite EZ to do.

  • Reply diane February 4, 2013 at 12:03 pm

    That is really cute. I have been eyeing some sewing machines lately and your tutorials make it so tempting to buy….

  • Reply Minta February 4, 2013 at 12:20 pm

    I wish you were here and could teach me how to sew. I had one bad experience with trying to learn how to sew with my sewing machine and now I’m so scared to try again. Your pillow is very pretty. Matches the color of your blog background.

  • Reply Jai February 4, 2013 at 6:23 pm

    Very cute, and you make it look so easy!

  • Reply Closer to Lucy February 5, 2013 at 12:30 am

    Pink bows…you are so after my pillow heart :0)

  • Reply Krystal February 5, 2013 at 7:15 pm

    Such a pretty pillowcase. You did a great job!

  • Reply Digna (Autumn Blues) February 8, 2013 at 12:41 am

    Very nice. Love the ribbon touch. I like to sew but have not sew anything in ages. Great job! Thanks for sharing.

  • Reply Janet W. February 14, 2013 at 10:33 am

    What a difference! Very cute pillow! The ribbon is adorable!

  • Reply DIY: Duvet Cover Sewing February 19, 2013 at 3:38 am

    […] loved it and she said it was “Soft and Cozy”.  Looks really nice with the matching shams […]

  • Reply ellen beck March 5, 2013 at 6:03 am

    Very clever and I like te additon of a ribbon- very girly looking. I bet she loves it!

  • Reply Diane Clark March 6, 2013 at 2:33 pm

    Wow – what rich imagination you have. I would never think that making pillows could be that easy. Thank you very much indeed for sharing your secrets and inspiring me)

  • Leave a Reply to Pamela R Cancel Reply