DIY No-Sew Pillow Covers

I was at the thrift store with my sister the other day, and she found a really cute curtain panel with gold polka dots on it. She was totally bummed out, though, because she could only find one panel—we were at the Goodwill outlet where everything is just dumped into bins. She was considering throwing it back into the bins, but I encouraged her to keep it because I have another great way to use good, cute fabric—DIY no-sew pillow covers!

I took sewing in home economics class in 7th grade and it was not my most winning life experience. I wasn’t very good at it and not patient enough to stick it out. I’ve never run a sewing machine again. Much to my chagrin…and how I feel about many of the things I’ve given up on in my lifetime…I wish that I would have tried harder and learned some basic sewing. I know that I could still learn and maybe I will someday, but until then…this little new sew pillow cover hack will do me just fine!

The first thing I did was to find pillows that I wanted to cover. I had two bolster-shaped pillows, that we’ve used on our bed for a while, that weren’t necessarily my favorite, and I was ok covering them up for a while. After that, I needed to find some fabric. I had a vintage tablecloth in my stash and decided to use it because I liked the colors and there was just enough fabric to cover both the pillows. If you look closely, the tablecloth has some spots on it, but I didn’t mind for this project because the pillows will be covered up by a longer bolster in front.

The other things I needed for the project were sharp scissors, a hot glue gun, glue sticks—and that’s it!

Let’s Get Started!

What you’ll need:

-Pillows to cover

-Fabric—iron if needed

-Sharp scissors

-Glue gun

-Glue sticks—it always takes more than you need

Directions:

1. Lay the fabric out flat with the top side facing down. Make sure that if there’s a pattern, that it’s running straight with the lines of the pillow. Figure out, roughly, how much fabric you’ll need to cover the pillow by pulling both sides of the fabric up to meet in the middle. Cut off any excess, so that it’s not in your way. Be careful not to cut off too much.

2. Once you’ve cut off the excess, bring one side up and around to the back of the pillow. Fold it along the pattern, in as straight of a line as you can. Run a line of hot glue along the pillow, pressing the folded fabric down as you go. Repeat with the other side. You may need to trim a little more off at this step, but hopefully you removed enough with the first cuts. If you can, try to line up the patterns where the two sides meet—at least make sure that the pieces are lined up straight.

3. Turn the pillow to one end and, if there’s a lot of fabric that hangs over the top of the end, tuck that down and into the opening of the bottom (what’s really the top side of the pillow). Then you’ll tuck in and fold each side flap of the fabric, using dots of glue to get the pieces tightly secured. Then, fold up the bottom piece of fabric, so it’s a straight line and glue it to the other fabric. This step is so much like wrapping a present! Make sure you get the corners as crisp and straight as you can. Repeat with the other side.

That’s it! This is such an easy DIY project for any skill level, and is also one that you can use fabric remnants, old linens, thrifted material, etc., making it very budget-friendly! When you’re ready for a change, simply pull apart the pieces of fabric. Hot glue is a nice medium to work with because it can be temporary. That’s something I like to remind people about almost all home projects. Nothing you do has to last forever…and depending on the project, most can be temporary and easily changed when you’re ready for something new! If you try this project for yourself, I’d love for you to share the before and after photos of your throw pillows!