How to make fall and holiday pillows for WAY less with placemats and
more.
This little trick is perfect for fall and holiday pillows. I mean, who wants
to spend a fortune on pillows that will only be out for two to three
months?
I’ve shared this little hack a few times, because it saves me so much money.
The investment is in my time, but I’m so quick at these now it doesn’t take
long at all.
I like seasonal decor that can be used more than a couple weeks and that’s
easy to store away. These always fit both of those criteria. OH, and cheap.
Also checks that one off.
I always love the Pottery Barn selection of fall pillows, but they are like
$30+ each for just the pillow covers. When I want one, maybe.
When I want a bunch, no way.
Years ago, I started looking at other ways to get the same look, for way
less!
I found this runner at Marshall’s (they have similar ones at TJ Maxx and
HomeGoods too) and my plan starting coming together:
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I’ve done this before with runners, but for more of a lumbar pillow. This one
had four designs, two longer ones and two at the end that were more square. I
loved that they were embroidered — a little detail that makes them look a
little more expensive.
I measured from each end to make sure the design was centered. I cut them out
(making sure they were mostly square shaped).
Two of these designs were at the ends of the runner, so I only had to sew up
one side!
You can close up that one side with a sewing machine or by hand. I usually do
a very simple hand stitch that will be easy to open up later so I can reuse
the pillow forms.
these inexpensive soft pillow inserts. They are super squishy which is good because these are smaller
pillows. This runner was only 14 inches wide — I knew they’d be smaller which
was fine with me. Keep your eye out because there are tons of runners that are
much wider.
A long table runner would make a great, large lumbar pillow for the couch or
bed!
I may have squealed out loud when I started stuffing them with the
inserts:
I mean, come ON. That’s adorable.
I love them!:
The runner was $13 and I already had the inserts so each one was about was only
a few bucks for me. Remember the insert can be used over and over again — I
remove my covers and change them out a lot.
tutorial on adding a zipper to a DIY pillow
to make them even easier to reuse!
I loved
these Pottery Barn pumpkin pillows:
cute Pottery Barn napkins
that had the same look, and some plaid ones with the same colors:
These were on sale so I got eight napkins for about $45. To me that’s a lot
for eight napkins — but it’s GREAT for eight pillows.
By the way, I found this runner at Marshall’s that looks SO similar to the
PB napkins and pillows:
Usually I’ll just put two napkins together and make them the same on both
sides. I wanted to make these really stretch so I used some inexpensive
linen I had as the backing.
It would also be cute to use two different placemats on each side so you
could flip them around for a different look!
I just traced the napkins and cut out the fabric for the back:
Place the good side of the napkin against the backing fabric, sew up three
sides, then turn it back right side out and stuff with your fill or
insert.
I’m so quick at pillows now it only takes maybe five minutes for me to do
each one. And I’m not an excellent sewer. Far from it. But pillows don’t
have to be perfect, thankfully. Most fabrics are very forgiving.
I added inserts and then sewed up the last side by hand:
Because I had the inserts these cost me less than $6 each!
I love the more muted tones for this season. So pretty:
I leave these out for a few months and I’ll use them year after year. This
DIY method is WAY cheaper, especially if you want a bunch of them! It was
funny because I told the employee at PB what I do with the napkins and she
did the same. Love it. 😉
Adding the fall colors around our home this time of year makes me so happy.
This is the start to my favorite few months of the year!:
Have you tried this decor trick yet? If you aren’t comfortable with a sewing
machine, ask around. If you have the materials ready to go it will literally
take minutes for a friend who sews to put them together.
use a
Brother sewing machine similar to this one. Once you get the hang of it you’ll be whipping out napkin pillows left and
right! 🙂
Go get yourself some napkins! Kitchen tea towels! Shower curtains! You can
make pillows out of whatever textile you love.
