In August, I took a little down south sewing mini getaway to Manjimup to relax, eat amazing snacks, and of course sew. I try to take this kind of mini trip every year as a dedicated block of time for self care and it’s always fun to get a few sewing project crossed off the list. This year, I wanted to try a few new things which is how I decided to make myself some celestial inspired pillows for my living room. Having never made pillows before and hearing about how “easy” and “beginner friendly” they are, I decided to basically wing it. Come along for the adventure of making chaos pillows.

Let’s make a square pillowcase:
For my first and second cushions, I plan to making two standard 21″ size pillowcases out of various fabrics.
The first fabric chosen was this cotton duck fabric from Spotlight. Despite wanting a celestial theme, the bee symbol is one very personal to myself and my husband so when we both saw the fabric, we knew it would be perfect for our vibe. Despite not being celestial fabric, the navy and gold tones really work with the room and add texture and depth. I only needed a meter.
The second fabric chosen for a pillowcase was this stretch velvet. With a navy background of lightly curshed velvet adorned with gold celestial patterns, this fabric was such a great choice for our living room. It obviously goes with our celestial theme but the velvet also adds a great texture to the room. Only one meter was needed of this fabric.
To add detail to my pillowcases, I wanted to add some gold piping to the edges. I ended up using this one which came in a massive roll. I will note that I also bought some golden tassels but during the sewing process, they were decidedly omitted due to potential sensory issues whilst in use.

With my materials gathered, I followed a universal pillowcase size chart to know my sewing/cutting meausrements. As it turns out, unbeknownst to myself, I had written down the wrong size measurements which meant I was about to make two pillowcases that were slightly too big for my pillows at home. We will circle back to this but let’s just continue as if nothing was wrong.
Once I had my two pillow pieces cut out, one side had the gold piping added to the seam allowance. Using my zipper foot on my sewing machine really helped this process along. For the gold bee pillow, the fabric was really sturdy and easy to sew. The stretch velvet caused a few warping and stretching issues as it’s not a fabric I have worked much with. The velvet cushion did cause some stress, some unpicking and a walk break, but we persevered. Once piping was on, the invisible zip was added to one pillow piece at a time with some very careful alignment. Then the pillow was sewn around the edges, right sides together before being flipped right-side out and she was basically finished.

The overall process of making these pillowcases was simple and straightforward; Using the stretch velvet was a little tricky and took me some time to get useful. This ultimately meant that my pillowcases were not perfect and some seams (mainly around the invisible zipper) were not the neatest. As these pillows will end up living on my couch, I knew they would be fine for us despite the wonky seams. This project has made me want to try making pillows again so I know my skills will get better over time. Now, remember when I said that I may have looked at the wrong sewing size without realising? Yeah, well that meant that once I got home and put my new pillowcases on, they looked sad and droopy. Although a bummer, it was more funny because as I was sewing them, both myself and my husband questioned their size but I had no way of double checking as the original pillows were at home. They will be adjusted one day.

They do look cute on my couch though!

Let’s make a moon pillow:
For my third and final cushion, I wanted to try and make a crescent moon shaped pillow.
To start, I cut out a moon-shaped template from some newspaper used this as my pattern piece.

As I wanted to be able to take my pillow cover off and wash them, I decided to make an inner pillow to hold all the stuffing and the outer layer is the pretty celestial fabric that can be washed. My inner pillow will be made from some left over cotton from this project, whilst my outer fabric was from here. I had about 1 meter of this celestial gold velvet fabric which perfectly matched the navy star fabric for pillow number 2. 

My moon pillow is not perfect and honestly just looks like a croissant but she is still cute. The curved tips of the pillow don’t quite fit together which I think might have to do with the strect of the velvet for the outer pillow. My moon tips are a little wonky but I’ve folded them in for now and plan on fixing then up on the sewing machine at a later date. After using her for over two months whilst watching tv, she has been super conveinient and comfortable and a welcome addition to the pillow family.

This project was sparked by two really old and bunged up pillows that I have had in my living room for years. Originally being gifted from a friend, they have been well-loved and used but no matter how much I fluff and wash them, they’re a bit old and over-loved. Not to mention a very different vibe and colour from the rest of the room. I didn’t want to throw these pillows away but instead I thought I could make a new cover for them which is how this post came about. Sure enough, my new pillow cases now house my old living room pillows.

With my pillows being made the wrong size, this means that my pillow inserts aren’t as full as they should be. I do plan on fixing this issue and am deciding how to do that so it’s economical and results in minimal trash and waste. It does make me laugh that even though I can sew, silly mistakes like looking at the wrong measurements still happen just to keep you on your toes. There will be more pillows made in the future as it’s a simple sewing skill I want to get better at so maybe sometime soon another pillow post may appear on the blog. Until then, happy sewing!

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