How to Make Custom Pillows

Making your own custom pillows lets you match any room’s colors and size exactly, without hunting through stores. The process takes about an hour for a beginner, needs only basic sewing supplies, and the same method works for accent pillows, floor cushions, and lumbar supports.

What You Need To Sew A Pillow Cover

You need fabric, matching thread, scissors or a rotary cutter, pins, a sewing machine (or needle and thread), and your stuffing of choice. A pillow form gives a smooth, uniform shape; loose polyfill works when you want a softer, more casual look.

Your fabric choice matters more than anything else. Cotton, linen, and canvas are forgiving for beginners and hold their shape well. Avoid stretchy knits on a first project — they shift while you sew and make straight seams harder.

How To Calculate Fabric Size For Your Pillow

Start by measuring the finished pillow you want. Most sewing guides, including Fiskars’ pillow tutorial, recommend a 1/2-inch seam allowance per edge, so you cut fabric larger than the finished size.

Some tutorials use a 1/4-inch seam allowance or add one inch total to the dimensions, so pick one rule and stick with it — mixing systems produces a cover that doesn’t fit.

Decide whether you want a snug or loose cover. A cover cut exactly the size of an 18″ insert will be loose and slightly wrinkled; cut it 1/2 inch smaller than the insert for a fuller, firmer look. State your fit preference before you cut and keep it consistent.

The Step-By-Step Sewing Process

Cut two fabric pieces to your calculated size, then follow these steps:

1. Pin the fabric with right sides together. Match the edges evenly and pin along all four sides.
2. Sew around the perimeter, leaving an opening. Use a straight stitch with a 1/2-inch seam allowance (or whatever you chose). Leave a 6–8 inch opening on one side for turning and stuffing — Connecting Threads’ pillow form tutorial uses exactly this gap.
3. Clip the corners. Snip diagonally across each corner, close to the stitch line but not through it. This removes bulk so corners turn out sharp instead of rounded.
4. Turn the cover right side out. Push the corners out gently with a chopstick or the end of a pencil.
5. Insert the pillow form or stuffing. Push loose fill in small amounts for even distribution; a pre-made form slides in more easily when you work it corner by corner.
6. Close the opening. Fold the raw edges of the opening inward, press them flat, and hand-stitch with a ladder stitch or slip stitch for an invisible seam. You can also machine-stitch the opening closed if your design allows it.

Your pillow is finished when the seam is closed, the corners are square, and the cover fits the insert without wrinkles or gaps. A practical option if you’d rather not sew: retailers like Printful’s custom pillow service lets you upload a photo or logo and print a one-off design on a ready-made cover.

Before you buy fabric or start cutting, check the best custom pillows for your space to compare finished options against the DIY route.

Retail Custom Pillow Options If You Skip Sewing

Ordering a printed custom pillow takes minutes and needs no sewing skills. You upload your image, pick a size, and the company prints and ships the finished pillow. Zazzle and Shutterfly are the two most established options:

• Zazzle sells custom throw pillows in five sizes — 13″x21″ lumbar, 16″x12″ accent, 16″x16″ and 20″x20″ throw, and 20″x54″ body — in polyester, cotton, zipperless, and outdoor materials.
• Shutterfly runs a photo-pillow category with a free-shipping threshold on orders over $99.

Retail printing works best for photo gifts and branded designs. You get a crisp reproduction of your artwork, but you pay more than DIY and you can’t control the fill density or fabric hand.

When you sew your own, you also control the decoration. Painting a design on your cover fabric before assembly is one popular method — HGTV’s stencil technique uses cardboard backing behind the fabric so paint doesn’t bleed through. Adhesive spray, iron-on transfers, and fabric markers all work, but they’re decoration steps, not construction steps.

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