Grain Sack Pillows {Tutorial}

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If you've been reading since the beginning of this blog's conception,

you'll remember that my first antique purchase ever was a 5$ grain sack.

Well, yesterday afternoon, I put off the dishes and the laundry

and made time during nap time to get that grain sack transformed.

Take that messy house!

The above photo is a shot of the back of the pillow. This tutorial shows how to make a removable pillow cover without messing with a zipper. Everything in my house needs to be washable, so this is how I make sure my pillows can easily be taken off and thrown in the washing machine for a quick cleanup from messy fingers.

~ Grain Sack Throw Pillows ~

Supplies Needed:

Sewing Machine

Grain Sack - washed and dried

Canvas Drop Cloth - washed and dried

Pillow Form:

{small enough to be covered by the size of your grain sack}

Coordinating Thread

Scissors

Measuring Tape

Iron

Fabric Pen/Pencil {optional}

Notes: use backstitch at the beginning and end of all your seams in this tutorial.

I am still new at sewing so I doubt I used all the correct sewing terms. Don't judge me!

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Method:

I laid out my grain sack to determine how much I could get out of the fabric.

I decided I could get 2 pillows out of it by using two 20x20in. pillow forms I already had.

I then ironed it.

I then measured the space between the words to determine a good spot to cut down the middle.

I marked the middle with my fabric pencil...

Cut down the center...

Trimmed off the fraying sides...

Laid my pieces on the pillows to determine placement of the words

and to determine how much fabric to trim to fit my pillow form.

I kind of eye this measuring-and-cutting-to-fit-pillow step. GASP!!!

I find that 3 kids 3 and under will do that to you.

I made sure there was extra fabric {roughly 3/4 inch to 1 inch all the way around} to make my pillow cover a little loose and because of the 1/4 inch edging you do to give the pillow a finished look at the end.

If you don't have little ones, or if you're OCD about stuff like that, you could take the measurement of your pillow form {e.g.. 20x20 inches} and add 3/4 inch to each side when you cut.

Taking my cut grain sack piece,

I laid it down flat on top of the canvas drop cloth,

smoothing out the two fabrics.

I began cutting the canvas to match the size of my grain sack,

but added 12 inches to the bottom of my pillow square...

and marked with my fabric pencil...

It looked like this when I got done cutting it...

I took the edges of both short sides and folded them over a 1/2 inch

and pressed them down by ironing and steaming them...

Then folded and pressed them over again, but 2 inches this time...

Sewed them...

I then folded that thing in half and cut straight down the fold...

Making 2 equal pieces...

I laid my grain sack piece and the canvas pieces on top of each other - right sides together!

The canvas pieces overlap like this...

Pinned the fabrics together...

The other side looked like this after pinning...

Sewed completely around the edges with my sewing machine. {If you measured your pillow pieces with an extra 3/4 inch instead of just eyeing it, I suggest you sew 1/2 inch in all the way around the square. You'll use up that extra 1/4 inch for the edging later!}

Trim off the corners like this...

Turn the pillow inside out now.

Iron the pillow so that the edges are all even like this...

{photo taken after pillow form inserted}

Sew 1/4 inch from the edge with desired stitch.

I used the long stitch on my machine, set on medium speed.

Insert pillow form and admire!!!

And look who my little helper was...

He wants to crawl so bad, poor thing!

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