Easy Decorative Accent Pillows

We got a new couch when we moved last fall. This meant I could also get new pillows (in my mind, no one actually gave me permission.) I had made an embroidered pillow with our last name on it a few months before and had plenty of fabric left over. I also made a table cloth (I took a home linens sewing class my last year in school!) and used left over fabric from that, too. I cut out 16" x 16" squares. Then I cut them along both diagonals to get 4 triangles. Since I was only making 2 pillows I only cut out 2 squares of both colors which resulted in 16 triangles. Next I laid out the triangles in the desired pattern.

Then I sewed 2 triangles in alternating colors together along the short side. Make sure you are sewing on the right sides of the fabric! The tan fabric is a jacquard fabric and definitely has a right and a wrong side.

 I had to check and recheck that I was sewing the right short edges together to get the right matching pattern for one side of the pillow.

Then it was time to sew the two larger triangles together. This was tricky so I started a the middle in order to get crisp lines. I pinned the seams down and sewed from the middle out. Then repeated in the opposite direction.

Then I sewed both sides together, matching where the red triangles were in the front and back to have a symmetrical pillow (forgot a picture of this step, sorry!) And then came the stuffing part. I left half of the bottom section un-sewn when I was sewing the two sides together. I stuffed to my hearts content. In order to get good corners I stuffed stuffing down there with scissors and made sure it went into the point of the corner. After stuffing, I sewed up the hole by hand. This could've been done by machine as well which would've been much faster but oh well!

Modern Accent Pillows

A great resource for fabric for pillows are discontinued sample pieces. Many home fashion fabric stores sell these for just a few dollars each. A few years ago, I was looking EVERYWHERE to find fabric to make pillows for my living room. I finally found a few samples that would work great. The only problem was that the flowers were not centered on the fabric. So, I got creative and made two abstract designs:

As you can see, I cut the fabric into blocks with the two floral patterns centered in a block. Then I switched up the blocks and sewed them together. I actually made a matching piping to create a more finished look.

So... look in the sample bin and think out of the box when you are designing your own pillows.