My Five Favorite DIY Pillow Projects

Even though my pillow stash is already pretty obscene, I’m pretty sure it’s not possible to ever have too many of them! Those of you who share in my pillow obsession will love today’s post – my blogging friends (Lisa of Shine Your Light, Jennifer of Dimples & Tangles, and Pam of Simple Details) and I are each sharing five favorite DIY pillows as part of this month’s My Five Favorites series. And we’re welcoming the sweet and talented KariAnne of Thistlewood Farms as our guest host this month! If you aren’t already familiar with KariAnne, she lives in a gorgeous farmhouse filled with thrifted and yard sale finds that she has transformed into the most beautiful treasures. I adore her style and as you can see, she’s a pretty big fan of pillows too:

Thanks for joining us KariAnne! Let’s get going and check out five of my favorite pillow projects – I’m kicking things off with a new pillow project & quick tutorial and then following it up with four favorite DIY pillows from the past. They’re all super simple to make and geared towards the sewing impaired like me 🙂  (post includes affiliate links – see my full disclosure statement {here})

Horse Bit Pillow 

You guys know that I have a love for horses and have equestrian decor throughout my home – the stirrups and horse print on my mantel, horsehead statue on my home office console, and pair of riding boots that I often use as vases are just a few of the horsey touches I’ve added. I recently saw a fabulous high-end pillow (selling for over $200) that incorporated a snaffle bit and I loved the look of it so I decided to recreate it on the cheap. After playing with a bunch of different looks with various fabrics and ribbons I ended up going with something super simple:

Only a few basic supplies are needed including:

• A snaffle horse bit – I went with {this simple one} but they come in different finishes (there are some super cool copper ones!) and different designs
• Four feet of ribbon – I used 1 1/2″ black and white gingham ribbon that I got locally but {this ribbon} is similar
• Scissors
• No-sew fusible bonding web (this stuff is magic!)

Cut your ribbon into two 2-foot pieces. Take one of those pieces, lay it patterned side down under one ring of the snaffle bit, and place a small piece of the fusible bonding web on top of the ribbon (it’s hard to see because it’s white!), fold the ribbon over the ring of the snaffle bit so it overlaps with the piece of bonding web and iron it down. The fusible bonding web holds just as well as a sewing stitch but with less work and no visible seams. Repeat with the second piece of ribbon and ring.

I love to change my pillows up frequently so I didn’t want to make my snaffle bit addition permanent. The solution was to simply tie the ribbon around the pillow and knot it in the back. This would actually look kinda cute for the front of a pillow too, right?

Obviously leaning back on a horse bit pillow probably isn’t all too comfy so choose a spot where your pillows are more decorative than one where they’re put to daily use. Mine is on the bench in our foyer which works perfectly because it’s a spot where we only sit for a minute or two while taking shoes on and off. I love it!

Designer Fabric Pillow Wrap

Some of the most drool-worthy fabrics out there are designer ones that don’t come cheap. A great way to bring some fabulous fabrics into your home without breaking the bank is to get a designer fabric remnant and make it into a pillow wrap!

Making the wrap couldn’t be easier – my pillow wrap tutorial {here} gives you the details but it essentially involves ironing down the sides and sewing one straight stitch to fit around your pillow. Wondering where can you score designer fabric remnants for a steal for a project like this? Etsy. I message Etsy stores that sell pillows in the fabric that I’m looking for and ask if they have any remnant pieces that they’d be interested in selling – I’ve had great luck finding pieces that are perfectly sized for wrapping around a lumbar pillow like the ones above since the remnants aren’t large enough for the Etsy sellers to make a whole pillow out them. And just like the horse bit pillow, the wraps can be slid on and off and changed up seasonally.

Mummy Pillow

This pillow project is about six months premature but Pin it now for when Halloween rolls around and you’ll be prepared with a quick and simple Halloween decoration that your kiddos will love!

Starting with a basic white IKEA pillow, you simply paint on some spooky eyes, wrap the little guy in gauze, and voila..instant mummy! For more details, the supply list and tutorial for my DIY mummy pillow can be found {here}.

Ribbon Wrapped Pillow

My favorite Christmas pillow project? Wrap wire-edged ribbon around a pillow like a present and tie it in a bow. It doesn’t get any simpler than that! You can see more of my 2014 Christmas Home Tour (where this image is from) {here} and my 2015 Christmas Home Tour posts {here} and {here}.

Faux Sheepskin Pillow (on the cheap)

When it came time to do a little makeover of my youngest daughter’s bedroom, she fell in love with those fluffy Mongolian lamb pillows – you know, the ones that sell for $80 and up?! That was way more than I was going to spend on a pillow for her room so I DIY’ed one on the cheap using an IKEA faux sheepskin and got the exact size pillow that I wanted for a fraction of the store-bought price:

You can find the details on my DIY faux sheepskin pillow project {here} and more pictures of my tween daughter’s room makeover {here}.

So there you have it – my five favorite DIY pillow projects! Now it’s time to hop over and check out my friends’ favorite pillow projects – they are WAY more talented with a sewing machine than I am so I know they’ll have some pretty amazing ones to share:

KariAnne – Thistlewood Farms

Pam – Simple Details

Jennifer – Dimples & Tangles

Lisa – Shine Your Light

I hope you guys take a minute to check back in with me on the blog tomorrow – I’ve got some exciting news to share about a big room makeover I’m about to jump into working on!!