No more ‘Dog-Eared’ Pillows!

A few years ago, I decided to attack some of the ‘projects’ for around the house to spruce up for the Holidays and to get some items off my ‘To – Do’ List!  One of those was to create some new pillows to go with a chair I had just re-covered, and to brighten up a dull sofa.  I LOVE saving $ – and from the scraps from my re-upholstery – and a remnant I picked up at a chain store, a little piping, some pillow forms, and an afternoon – I made 3 pillows that would have cost me probably $45 and up if I’d purchased them.    Long ago, I learned this tip for avoiding the pointy ‘dog ear’ corners on a square pillow and I feel very  “Martha-ish” every time I utilize the hint…(wonder if Martha Stewart even knows about this?!) …sew I wanted to share.  This little tutorial is NOT meant to be a complete How To on how to make pillows – that is easily obtainable, rather I wanted to just add my ‘2 cents worth’ of little tricks.

Here is a quick pic of what I define as a ‘Dog Ear’ on a purchased pillow…

1.  Cut the front and back THE SAME MEASUREMENT in size as the pillow forms.  So if you’re using an 18″ pillow, cut your fabric 18″ square.  Do NOT add anything for seam allowances!  Now… if you’re adding a zipper – allow a bit for that – depending on your insertion method, but for seams – add NOTHING!  This will give you a very full, un-sloppy pillow.

‘Shave’ the corners!

2.  Shave off each corner!  By this I mean to fold the piece into fourths and then from the center of each side to the corner, curve cut so you are taking a cut 1/2″ less at the corner from each side.  When you do this, it will look like what you see in the picture above.

Honestly – it works!

I love piping on my pillows. Use a size in proportion to the size of your pillow.  Use bias to cover the piping – and your zipper foot to snug up close to it.  The 2nd photo in the row above shows how you need to clip into the seam allowance to get around the corner as you stitch the piping to the right side of one of your pillow pieces.