A Pleated Slipcover

So the bedroom revamp is in full swing, but I managed to get this pillow done this weekend. I have never been so happy for my algebra lessons before, because when I was an 7th grader I was never going to use it in real life. Hah! Sometimes we are so naive in our youth. I was also surprised that the math was a welcome break to all the cleaning and painting.

We've all seen these pillows in the stores, and while I will probably not be making a lot of them, they are nice looking though. I also made this one as a slip cover, so that you can easily change it out for the seasons. So on to the show!


Stuff you'll use: 
A yard of fabric
Ruler
14" Pillow form
A bit of time :) 

What you'll do:
Square up the edges of your fabric. Cut one length of fabric 15"x 40.5". Cut two lengths 15" x 12"

On the longer length of fabric, starting from a short edge measure 2-1/4" in and mark. From that mark, make a mark every 2-1/4" down the length of the fabric. It helps if you make a mark on either side of the fabric, and you can mark the middle if it will help you; I did.

With wrong sides together, fold your fabric at the first mark. Sew a line 3/4" in from the fold. Unfold the fabric, then fold the fabric again at the next line, and sew as before. Repeat this until you have 17 pleats. Press the pleats flat, all going one direction.

With the pleats aligned horizontally, make a mark down the center of the panel that is going vertical (intersecting all of the pleats). Make another line that is 3.5" from the center on either side of it. Then make another line that is a 1/2" in from the edge.

 Stitch the center line, making sure to keep your pleats nice and flat. Turn your panel so that you will be stitching in the opposite direction from the center line. You should have two lines of stitching that are opposite from the center line.

This is a front view of the presser foot pushing the pleats to the opposite direction. 

A side view of the second line of stitching that is going opposite of what was just stitched. You can see the presser foot pushing the pleats the opposite direction. You need to ensure that the presser foot does push the pleats backwards away from it instead of feeding them under the foot in the same direction as the first stitching.

A view of the panel after the first 3 lines of stitching are complete.

Turn your panel so that it is the same direction is was as it was for the center line and stitch the lines that are a 1/2" from the edges. You will be stitching the pleats down in the same direction as the center line.

This is the back of your panel after all the stitching is done. 

On one of the 15" sides of each of your shorter pieces, with wrong sides together fold down a 1/2". Press. Fold the edge over again 3/4", press and stitch close to the fold. This is also known as a double hem.

With right sides together, pin one of the shorter sections to one side of the pleated panel. Pin the other short panel to the other side, overlapping it with the other short section.

Sew the pieces together in a 1/2" seam on all sides. Clip the corners, then turn right side out. Stuff with pillow form and enjoy! :)

I hope you all enjoyed this tutorial, and here is a sneak peek of our bedroom. :)

You can see a little bit of the wall color, but not so much as this picture was taken this afternoon. Our room does not get a lot hardly any sun in the afternoon, so I will have to take better pictures one morning.

I'm linking up to these parties.

Have a wonderful day!