Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

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How To Make A Pillow From Two Cloth Napkins

Duuuuude. I got back on the proverbial sewing machine horse. What? You haven’t heard that expression. Whatever. The point is: Sue the Napkin is now Sue the Pillow! Or more accurately Sue The Pillows (yup, I made two of them).

turning-two-cloth-napkins-into-a-pillow

Here are my materials:

  • Four Sue The Napkins (I originally got ten when we found them on clearance at Crate & Barrel, but I picked up four more so I could make two pillows using four of them and still have ten leftover to use as dinner napkins).
  • Oh Brother (my trusty sewing machine, more on him here)
  • Two old pillows to use as the “inside” of my new Sue pillow covers
  • A needle and some brown thread to sew one edge of the pillow shut by hand (that way I can easily seam rip that last portion to free the pillow inside and make a different cover down the line if I’d like).

I’ll spare you every detail, but I basically just stacked two napkins on top of each other with the good printed side touching (and the back of the fabric showing on the top and the bottom of the stack) and used my sewing machine to sew three of the four sides completely shut while it was all inside out like that. I even turned the corner and did about an inch or two on each end of the remaining fourth side while they were still inside out on the machine. Then I removed the napkins and turned them right side in, stuffed a pillow inside my little napkin envelope (which now had the printed side facing out), and stitched the remaining expanse of about 10″ closed by hand with my brown thread (which blends in surprisingly well).

Sue Hand Sewing

As I’ve mentioned complained about before, I’ve ironically never had an issue with sewing by hand (it’s like painting by hand or demo-ing by hand, both of which I can do – I only have issues when I rely on a maniacal robot sewing machine). But as much as I whine about the ol’ new sewing machine, it did me right for my little pillow party. Am I a professional seamstress? No. Can I sew three straight lines without ending up with a birdsnest-looking-pile-o’-thread? I did this time. Strike up the band! Cue the fireworks!

And on the surprisingly-not-as-annoying-as-I-thought-it-would-be side of things, it only took me about four commercial breaks during Modern Family to whip up both pillows (so maybe about 12 minutes total? I was watching last week’s episode by the way, so don’t ruin this week’s for me).

Then I just stitched them closed during Bethenny Ever After (this took me much longer than it should have because I kept stopping to stare at the screen and guffaw at my imaginary BFF). But all in all, they look a lot less demented much better than I expected. Actually – dare I say it? – like real pillows.

Sue Sewn Edge

Sue Done Trio

Oh and as pretty as the pillows look when they’re all fluffed and photographed for the blog, more often than not they really look like this. Because Burger makes it a personal goal of his to squish every pillow in the house into an ugly little blob. But he’s cute so we deal with it.

Sue Burger Squish

Sometimes he even stops to nuzzle Sue, as if to say “you’re my favorite napkin-turned-pillow too.” It’s always nice to get pillow validation from an eight pound chihuahua.

Sue Burger Nuzzle

So that’s the tale of Sue The Pillow(s). Have you guys sewn any napkin pillows lately? Did you die over the whole Gloria hair-rings/earrings thing on Modern Family last week? Me too. Can’t wait to watch this week’s episode tonight.

Comments

  1. Kate says

    This is great. I am motivated to make me some pillows. Probably should get a sewing machine first!

    Anywho, if you love Modern Family as much as we do, pleeease tell me you watch Raising Hope. It’s like white trash modern family (i meant that in the nicest way possible!) I often cry from laughing so hard!

    Reply

  3. Lindsey says

    Several times over the past couple of days Ive seen the “napkin” color scheme on clothing…people were wearing this clothing…AND I almost stopped to ask if I could take a picture :) So I could send it to yall! HA! But then I totally thought theyd think I was weird…but NOW, I really wish I would have! So here is my promise…if I see the “napkin” again…on clothing…IM SO taking a picture :) Love it!

    Reply

  4. Corinne says

    I was waiting for the day when you turned Sue in a real pillow cover! Very nicely done!

    Chloe does the same thing to my pillows. She’s so adorable though, that it’s hard to get mad at her for it. In the mornings when I’m getting ready for work, she always destroys the center of my bed by creating a little pocket for herself. I’ve learned to just not make the bed until after she’s in her crate for the day!

    Modern Family is hilarious! I wish I had seen the first season. I love Gloria, but I’m not sure I have one particularly favorite Gloria moment…..the hair rings/earrings thing was pretty good though.

    Reply

  5. Meredith says

    Too funny–I blogged about pillow slipcovers today too! But I think your sewing method was probably a much better idea than my heat-bond iron-on tape method!

    I really like Sue next to the blue pillows!

    Reply

  6. erin says

    Love them! Here’s another easy way to make pillow covers (out of actual fabric, lol): say you have a 15″ pillow. Find some fabric that you like and buy 1/2 yard (18″) of it. Most cottons are 45″ wide, so you’ll have more than enough. Cut a rectangle that is twice the width of your pillow plus 4-6 inches (about 20″ in this case) and the width of your pillow plus one inch (for 1/2-inch seam allowances – 16″ in this case) and make sure the selvedge (the finished edge of the fabric) is one of the short sides. Lay the rectangle down on the floor, pretty side up, and fold up the selvedge end so it is a little past the middle. Pin it in place and then fold the other end over so it is the same size as your pillow (15″) and pin that in place.

    Now you have a square with the ends overlapping in the middle, which will be the back side. Stitch down the unfolded sides 1/2″ away from the edge. Turn your case right-side out and press, and voila – done! No hand sewing needed and only two lines to sew, and the finished edge is on the outside where it will rub against the sofa etc – so there won’t be any threads to come loose. I do all my pillow covers this way, because then I can very easily change them out for the seasons if I want. Glad you are on somewhat better terms with Oh Brother!

    Reply

  7. Ashley W says

    Ahh, Modern Family. My hubby and I joked that how Gloria reacted that she’d be the guardian is EXACTLY how my mom is with our daughter.

    Also, love the pillow!!

    Reply

  10. niicoollaa says

    I crack up with every mention of Bethenny as a imaginary BFF because we’ve definitely got a whole lotta that going on in my house too. I can even get my hubs to watch the show, which is a big accomplishment because he thinks that all Bravo shows are crap-o-la (a-duh — that’s why they’re so good).

    Reply

  11. georgia says

    I thought for a momebt there burger had turned sue into a bean bag..

    My dogs go one step further, they eat my cushions… Yep- 100% destroy them… Booo

    I am so going to make some cushions out of some old pillow cases I have! And maybe some bunting, just bcoz it will look pretty :)

    Reply

  13. - Sarah :-) says

    They look great! I’ve found that the easiest way to make removeable pillow covers tha tlooks like full real pillows when on the couch is to use the “envelope pillow” method. A good example found here: http://sewing.about.com/od/freeprojects/ss/envelopepillow_6.htm

    I LOVE that you made them into pillows though. Woot! And what I’ve learned as a self-start sewer is that you get better as you go and challenge yourself. :-) And if you ever venture into sewign clothes? Start with kid clothes/baby clothes… aka: Clara clothes. EVERYthing looks cute ona kid, so it’s okay to have minor difficulties since they cute-it-up as soon as it’s on them. :-)

    Reply

  15. Megan Brewer says

    Yeah! I LOVE the idea of re-using something from your home for a new purchase! I also LOVE spicing it up and adding new pillows in a space to make a room “pop”!

    I want you two to know that ever since I read about you in the Washington Post weekend magazine a few months ago you have inspired me in so many ways! My little family also lived in a little 1950s brick rambler that we decorated/DYI style (we just moved south two weeks ago). You inspired to blog about “staging” our little brick rambler. We got 4 offers in less than a week!

    I now read your blog religiously and have started my own two blogs (2 blogs! I know! I need to decide on one and stop working on the other- 2 decorating blogs is crazy!). Which of my two blogs do you like best?:
    http://cottagebluedesigns.blogspot.com/
    http://cottagebluedesigns.wordpress.com/

    Good luck to you! Keep sharing about your DYI projects!!! Thanks for inspiring me and others-
    Megan

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      That’s too hard to decide. Maybe post both links to your blogs on Facebook and ask which one people like best? I like the starfish from the first one but have always been a huge fan of wordpres (it’s what we use) so I’m torn!

      xo,
      s

  16. Tania says

    Is anyone else having problems viewing the pictures? I’ve had this problem the last couple of days but only this website. I’ll just have to use my imagination regarding Sue’s reincarnation for now…

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      This is the third question we have about that and we just can’t figure it out. Does anyone else have any suggestions? We didn’t change anything on our end and sometimes it’s an operating system thing (ex: try internet explorer if you usually use safari and see if that works). We’re stumped though. Does anyone else have ideas? Help!

      xo,
      s

    • Tania says

      Oh that’s probably it. I could see the images at home (using Firefox) but not at work (with IE). Dammit, this blog is often my sanity break at the office.

    • YoungHouseLove says

      So sorry about that! Here’s hoping it’s only an operating system glitch and they’re not blocking the server where we store our pics at your office (we haven’t changed where we store them for over a year but some offices catch on to cloud servers full of blog pics and block them).

      xo,
      s

  18. Ruth says

    I’m laughing at myself because I have been sitting on my couch hand sewing place mats while listening to the radio. I feel like we did similar activities, except that I am 50 years in the past. At least the “radio” was streaming on my computer!

    Haha, also for the record, despite my old-fashioned first name, I’m in my 20s. Sooo, I have no excuses for hand-sewing with the radio. Or, I do, but they are not generational excuses.

    Glad to see all is well on the sew-front, though!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Haha, you’re my past self and I’m your future self. Hilarious. Although I agree that streaming the radio on the computer takes you well into the present day!

      xo,
      s

  19. kristin blake says

    How did you sew that last side of the pillow? Every time I try to hand stitch a pillow, it ends up having a pulled look to it. It looks so “ununiform”, if that’s a word, from the rest of the sides bc they were sewed inside out. Your last side looks seamless and like it was sewed inside out. I’ve always had the hardest time making the final side look the same. So frustrating!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      I have zero correct terms for this but I used what I call the loopy stitch. That’s the one when you make a big loop with the string that comes out from the bottom and goes back into the top and you put the needle through the loop and pull which makes a knot. Then I move on and make another loop about a half of a centimeter to the left of that and put my needle through that and make another knot. I hope that makes sense. Oh and I folded the napkins in so they were sort of hemmed already (so I wasn’t stitching the outside edge of them together with knots, they were hemmed-looking like the other three sides that were hemmed by being inside out. Ack, I know that sounds completely impossible to understand so I’ll have to take better pics next time! And maybe even a video…

      xo,
      s

  20. Nancy says

    If Burger’s like the chihuahua we had, he’s always looking for a warm spot. I thought at the time that his sometimes shaking was just a chihuahua thing. Nope, I now know he was cold! :(

    Reply

  21. Shannon R says

    I was at the Crate and Barrel outlet store a few weeks back and they had Sue the napkins there! I stared at them because I couldn’t figure out why some random napkin would be so familiar. Then I realized it was from your blog! I almost bought one so I could look at it in person whenever you wrote about it. Then I decided that was super creepy and left the store. But the pillows are super cute!

    Reply

  23. Kayla says

    This is an impressive successful venture after your recent hateful sewing post about Clara’s birthday flag banner! Also, my dogs (full grown Labs) are also obsessed with my pillows. You would think I had bought those pillows just for them! =)

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      So sorry! Maybe it’s a browser glitch? Have you tried Internet Explorer or Safari or Firefox (if you’re using one, try another one). That’s all we can think of. So sorry we can’t be of more help! Anyone else have ideas for Sheetal?

      xo,
      s

  27. Kim S says

    I was on a pillow-making streak this week too! I did the no-sew version but they came out so great that I feel like such a professional and have wanted to pat myself on the back every time I walk into the living room! Haha it’s the little things that make me happy I guess. :o)

    Now if I actually used the sewing machine can you imagine how impressed with myself I would be? Congrats to you for conquering Oh Brother!

    Reply

  28. Jen says

    Until this post, I did not realize that Sue the Napkin(s) were cloth napkins – this whole time I was thinking they were thick paper (like the “personal towels” that people buy that are really thick paper and totally disposable). When I first started reading, I was like, WHAT?!? She’s sewing PAPER NAPKINS TOGETHER?!? Ha!

    Also, I’d never ever ever thought of sewing cloth napkins together before, and I love it!

    Reply

  29. Latoya says

    OMG, I love it! Im still amazed at how you took a napkin and matched all those colors from it…and so amazed at how you translated it into wall color. I have been looking for some inspiration myself for my living room but its hard to find something to use with the Vanilla Brandy (Olympia) color that I have on my walls. I will get there though…thanks for sharing!

    Reply

  30. Melo says

    3 things I learned from this post:

    1. You can make pillows out of napkins;
    2. Small dogs win battles over home decor (or become home decor…?);
    3. I should watch Modern Family.

    Reply

  32. sarah says

    re: modern family my favorite line from that episode:
    “look i did both sides, not just the gay one.”
    too funny!! LOL
    btw-pillows look great! :)

    Reply

  33. maribel says

    Hi Sherry,
    I just made my first pillow with a SEWING machine. I practiced one afternoon just sewing straight stitches on a piece of fabric and yes I had the cobweb thing going as well. One day I will try making a pillowcase I can remove (envelope type). This time I sewed three sides and partial fourth and then stuffed it. My problem is I was left with a lumpy pillow, I used polyester stuffing and broke it up a bit. What do you use/

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Wahooo! So proud of you Maribel! I just stuffed a pillow inside of my pillow cover (fabric and all- I didn’t cut it to get the batting out). Seems to work since it’s nice and smooth- although I’m sure that’s not the way the pros do it. Haha. Hope it helps!

      xo,
      s

    • Rosie says

      Maribel,
      You can also buy pillow inserts at craft/fabric stores (joanns, etc.) – i’ve seen some at inexpensive ones at Ikea too, and Target might even have some – the inserts won’t be lumpy like the stuffing. With the stuffing you have, I might try breaking it up even more, so you don’t have big chunks of stuffing, and push the stuffing into the corners first, then fill the middle as full as possible – that should make it less lumpy.

  34. jamie says

    Love! Sue the napkins make awesome pillows. Congrats on conquering the sewing machine. I’m scared of them as well.

    A friend just sent me the following blog post and I wanted to share as many of the philosophies this artist subscribes to seem to fit you guys as well. I found it inspiring and thought you might to…
    http://www.austinkleon.com/2011/03/30/how-to-steal-like-an-artist-and-9-other-things-nobody-told-me/

    p.s. I don’t have any connection to him, just found it inspirational. If it’s weird to send a link to another blog, feel free to not post that part of my comment.

    Reply

  35. Laura Lewis says

    Great job! We should have a “friend-off” to see who is the best fit friend for Bethenny’s BFF since I’m pretty sure it’s me. ;) Also, not to sadden your Thursday but Modern Family was a repeat.

    Reply

  36. lauren says

    they look GREAT! i am also a self-taught (& novice!) sewer – i made some cushion covers for an old chair a few months ago. i had the chair & the fabric for 6 months before i was finally brave enough to make them (mostly because i was scared of sewing in the zipper), but it ended up being so simple!

    so you don’t have to hand sew the last bit of your pillows, next time, check out this guy’s video – his 3 minute video was all it took for me to install my first (perfect!) zipper.

    Reply

  37. Melissa says

    My trick is former placemats. They have to be two layered and not quilted, but all you do is open a little bit of seam, stuff with fiberfill and then stitch in the ditch (how the seam is still visible) closed. Voila *beaded* throw pillows for under $10!

    Reply

  39. anu says

    you go girl! last night, i just sewed a reversible pillow with two different napkins (cause i’m lazy to change them regularly, i can just flip ’em). i did put a zipper on it, using the super easy tutorial from prudent baby.

    Reply

  40. Christine says

    Yes the stairs are really wierd, but the best, possibly temp, solution I could think of is to build a potting table over them. Then you can stack all your pots and bags of soil etc, underneath. I think that could look really nice in that odd, cold, little spot.

    Reply

  43. Amanda Gray says

    I heart Modern Family. I will be devastated when it goes off the air! Not saying it will, of course…

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Yes! Just to see the dress. John is so anti (he’s sick of hearing about it) but I think it’ll be fun to at least DVR it and fast forward to the good parts.

      xo,
      s

  45. Caroline says

    This is totally random, but I just wanted to let y’all know how much I love that you decided not to take freebies from stores/companies. I am not trying to start a big discussion on the pros/cons of your decision, but I for one love it- it makes the blog and y’all’s journey so much more real and relatable. I just tonight decided to stop reading another blog because EVERYTHING featured seems to be provided by big name stores- very annoying. Anyway, just wanted to drop a line to y’all and say thanks for have what I consider to be the BEST blog online! :-)

    Reply

  46. Cindy D. says

    Oh my goodness! My toy poodle Gusteau curls up on top of our pillows EXACTLY like Burger! Too cute! I laughed out loud when I saw that picture! I know it well!

    Reply

  50. dana828 says

    lol! My little rat terrier Daisy does that to our pillows, too! I have given up trying to stop her. But I wonder why, when she sleeps on the bed pillows, it’s always *my* pillow she sleeps on. I guess I must smell better than the husband…

    Reply

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