Pillow cover overhaul

This morning I worked on pillows throughout our house. I made a total of nine pillow covers using our existing pillows.

Here's a quick tutorial for anyone who doesn't know how to make pillow covers.

1. Cut out two pieces of fabric. I cut out four pieces total because I was making two at once. I made two lumbar pillows therefore I cut out four rectangle pieces. I wanted to save fabric so I made the back plain white so the bottom two pieces are just plain white.

2. Sew them shut on three and a half sides. Make sure you sew them inside out so you can flip them after. 

3. Stuff with foam/cushion or whatever you want and sew the last half side shut.

Here they are after on our dining room arm chairs. 

Although I really meant to save money by making the back plain white, I am glad that went that route. The plain white back looks really nice and makes the pillow feel more high end.

I also made two larger pillows for our plain chairs in the formal living room. I feel that our formal living room is lacking in a lot of areas and they don't really match but the pillows tie them in a little better. I made four pillows out of one yard of fabric. This black and white fabric was purchased at Joanns a while back. I really like it because its indoor/outdoor fabric which translates to toddler proof to me. 

I also bought blue fabric along with the black and white fabric and made two more blue pillow covers for our living room. Currently, our poor living room only has two good pillows and the rest are ugly and need a makeover. 

Lastly I made three more pillows for Emily's big girl playroom. Her playroom was really what got me to start giving our pillows a makeover. I purchased a yard of plain pink fabric and another yard of decorative pink/white fabric. Total cost was $6 since they were both on sale.  The smaller pink and white pillow is really cute it says I love mommy and I love daddy.

*edit: I just realized that Emily's big girl daybed cost a total of $31 to make. Bed itself was made by my dad from left over wood/mdf he had laying around, $6 for three pillows, $25 for pink and white fabric (two yards of each color totaling four yards). I'm quite happy with the bed because the Dorel daybed that we returned cost over $100 by itself not including covers/decoratings/mattress. But of course this custom made bed is only half the size of the dorel bed.

 If I remember correctly total cost for all the fabric was $18. All were purchased at Joanns while they were 50% off. That averages out to be $2 a pillow and I still have fabric for more pillows if I really wanted more of the pillow covers. Not too shabby considering the average cost for pretty pillows range about $20 a piece.

Tip: You can save more money by going to the outdoor swap meet on Mission and Ramona. They have a good variety of fabric for very affordable prices. Prices are at least half less compared to Joanns. I haven't gone there lately because its too hot and I like to take my time looking for pretty fabric so Joanns is more convenient for me. I'm planning to go there next friday (8/30) if anyone wants to join me. I'm in the search for new drapes.