Perfectly Pillows

So I have a confession to make:  I do not know how to sew.  Well I know the basics.  I can thread a needle and tie a knot at the end of the thread and pull it back and forth through fabric.  I can also thread a sewing machine (because the directions are printed on the machine and numbered for you) and sew a straight line.  From watching my mom make Halloween costumes I know that you have to drop the foot on the sewing machine to keep the fabric in place.  Oh and I know that to make the sewing machine go you have to press the foot pedal!  Other than that I didn't and don't know much.  What I'm trying to say is that this tutorial won't be one for the ages and there are still lots of other things that I probably could have done to make these pillows better or faster, but I managed to make pillows none the less!  I had to do a lot of searching on the internet and I had to rip out a bunch of seams but I finished the pillows and I'll show you where I went wrong so you won't have to search the internet like I did!
 

This was the old pillow.  I hate them.  Oh they're not that ugly just the stuffing isn't good anymore, I don't find them comfortable to sleep on, and the colors and pattern just blend in.  Anyway I'm over them.  But I like their size.

 

So I measured the pillow using my trusty craft ruler.  It's served me well.

Then I cut a piece of cardboard about the same size as the pillow.

See about the same size.

Then I took the cardboard piece (Don't worry I made sure the edges were square) and put it on the fabric we picked out.  and traced around it.

Then I knew I needed some extra fabric around the edge for the seams and the piping  So I took an engineering scale and aligned it along the edge of the cardboard square and traced along it's edge (I'm really high tech aren't I).

See, about an inch of seam allowance.  When you're tracing out the pattern you can trace on either side of the fabric.  I like to trace on the back side or the side that won't be seen just in case the pencil I'm using doesn't wash out.  But you can trace on either side just make sure your marking tool is washable or can just rub off.  Chalk pencils work well.

Oh fabric remnants.  I have so many fabric remnants in my life right now.  I hate throwing away good fabric.

Here is my pillow square all cut out!

To make sure that it's square, do the elementary school trick of folding it in half diagonally and trimming any excess.

Then I took a piece of glass (that I knew was square) and double checked that the corner of the fabric was square.

And here's the piping!

I want the piping about and inch from the edge, so I used the ruler to measure one inch away (or you can just pin on the pencil line you drew).  MAKE SURE you pin the piping to the FRONT side of the fabric, the side you will SEE when you have a finished pillow.  You also only have to pin the piping to ONE square, not both.

See one inch away from the edge.

Pin the piping to the fabric.  You'll sew on the red fabric behind the pretty rolled, shiny, piping that you'll see.  That red fabric allows you to attach the piping to the pillow without damaging the look of the piping.  Use one continuous piece of piping for each pillow.  When you get to the point where you have to turn the corner, cut through the red fabric behind the piping but STOP when you get to the piping.  Do NOT cut through the piping itself.  This will allow you to have clean corners.

When you're done pinning the piping you will have a square with piping pinned to it and one square without piping.  This will make one pillow.

I'm making four pillows so I have eight squares.  Four with piping, four without.

Alright, you now have to thread the machine.  Here's where I needed the most help from the internet.  The bobbin is on the left and the bobbin holder thingy is on the right.  The bobbin is wound with red string.

The bobbin fits inside the bobbin holder.

Put the bobbin in the bobbin holder.

Now here's the tricky part.

Take the string and put it in that little line right there.

Pull it up and under the metal flap.

Pull it to the opening.

Now that the thread is coming out of the opening you'll get the correct tension.

Here's the bottom of your sewing machine (mine is a Brother).  Put the bobbin holder with threaded bobbin inside into the slot.  The thread needs to be hanging out.  With the top part of the machine threaded, turn the crank on the side that moves the needle up and down.  This will magically make the top thread go down and catch the bottom thread and bring it through the top where it needs to be.

Alrighty now you're FINALLY ready to start sewing!  (Don't worry it goes really fast from this point on).  I'm using a zipper foot.  This allows you to get the needle right next to the piping.  With the regular foot it would be about a 1/4" away from the piping which means your finished pillows would have piping and a 1/4" of the red fabric which isn't exactly what you want.

It's easier to sew the piping all at once.  You just have to do a couple steps when you have to turn the corner.  Btw, see how the red fabric behind the piping is cut until is reaches just behind the piping?! 

Alright, you have reached a corner.  Lift the foot that presses the fabric to the machine and turn the needle crank so the needle rises up.

Keep the needle and the presser foot up as you rotate the fabric.

Now drop the presser foot.

And crank the needle back into the fabric.  Now you can start sewing again!

When you get to the end where the piping overlaps, make sure the end of the piping is lying on top of the start of the piping.  This makes it easier to sew the piping down so it won't bunch up as you sew across it.

Once the piping is all sewn on, take the other square of fabric and put it face to face with the side you just sewed the piping to.  So the piping is sandwiched inbetween the fabric and the pretty sides are facing each other.  Now since you can't see the piping I used my fingers to press down on either side of the piping so I can sew right next to it again.   

Here's what it will look like.

You'll want to leave a small section un-sewn so you can turn the pillow inside out.  I left about 6-8 inches un-sewn.

To make the corners look prettier, cut the corners off on a diagonal.

Turn the pillow right-side-out.  See here is the hole from the right side.

My pillows are almost done!

I decided to re-use old pillow filling instead of buying new pillow stuffing.  I'm thrifty like that ;)

Once you're done stuffing the pillows, sew the 6 inch opening closed.  You can do this by hand but I just stuck it back on the sewing machine because it was faster.  And here are my pillows all done!  Surprisingly they're a bit smaller than I wanted even though I cut the fabric larger.  Oh well, no worries I'll just make bigger pillows to go behind them and have these be the accent pillows in front.  Although the colors in the pillows match the colors in the couch perfectly, they are still too different and don't blend as well as I'd like.  So now my goal is to make bigger pillows with a very neutral fabric that has the color of the couch and the cream color of the accent pillows so it will tie is all together.  Stay tuned for the update!