ShareThisThis is a quick way to make accent pillows that show off interesting and/or vintage dishtowels. The pillows are also easy to clean because you can simply slip off the tube shape of the dishtowel and throw it in the washing machine. Find your dishtowels first because that will determine the size of your pillows.
Gather:
Pillow form
Tea towel
Coordinating fabric
Scissors
Sewing machine or needle and thread
Fold the towel in half, measure and subtract an inch from that measurement for a half-inch seam allowance at the top and bottom. That is the maximum height of your pillow, since the tea towel needs to be able to wrap around it. The length of the pillow will need to be at least the length of your tea towel, but can be as long as you like, since a coordinating fabric will be peeking out from the sides. Buy enough of the coordinating fabric to cover the pillow size you choose. Because the tea towel already has seams on the edges, you don't have to worry about any hems.
Fold the tea towel in half widthwise so that the front image is hidden and you are looking at the back of it. Using the sewing machine or a needle and thread, sew a straight seam along the top and bottom edges that are now folded together. When you flip it around after sewing so that the image is now visible, you will have a tube shape that you will be slipping around your pillow.
Now get your coordinating fabric. When covering a pillow, you want the end size to be equal to the size of the pillow form, not any bigger, excluding seam allowances. So if my pillow if 7 inches by 14 inches, and I want half-inch seam allowances on every side, the pieces of fabric I will cut out will be 8 inches by 15 inches.
Lay the 2 cut pieces of fabric face-to-face so that you are working inside out. Sew all the way around the fabric, leaving enough of a hole at one end -- say, 5 inches -- to be able to turn the fabric inside out and then stuff your pillow form into. You can close up this hole by hand for an invisible finish, or use the machine for a visible stitch. Now just slip the tea towel onto the covered pillow.
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service www.scrippsnews.com.)
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