Young House Love

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How To Make A Pillow From Two Cloth Napkins

Duuuuude. I got back on the proverbial sewing machine horse. What? You haven’t heard that expression. Whatever. The point is: Sue the Napkin is now Sue the Pillow! Or more accurately Sue The Pillows (yup, I made two of them).

turning-two-cloth-napkins-into-a-pillow

Here are my materials:

  • Four Sue The Napkins (I originally got ten when we found them on clearance at Crate & Barrel, but I picked up four more so I could make two pillows using four of them and still have ten leftover to use as dinner napkins).
  • Oh Brother (my trusty sewing machine, more on him here)
  • Two old pillows to use as the “inside” of my new Sue pillow covers
  • A needle and some brown thread to sew one edge of the pillow shut by hand (that way I can easily seam rip that last portion to free the pillow inside and make a different cover down the line if I’d like).

I’ll spare you every detail, but I basically just stacked two napkins on top of each other with the good printed side touching (and the back of the fabric showing on the top and the bottom of the stack) and used my sewing machine to sew three of the four sides completely shut while it was all inside out like that. I even turned the corner and did about an inch or two on each end of the remaining fourth side while they were still inside out on the machine. Then I removed the napkins and turned them right side in, stuffed a pillow inside my little napkin envelope (which now had the printed side facing out), and stitched the remaining expanse of about 10″ closed by hand with my brown thread (which blends in surprisingly well).

Sue Hand Sewing

As I’ve mentioned complained about before, I’ve ironically never had an issue with sewing by hand (it’s like painting by hand or demo-ing by hand, both of which I can do – I only have issues when I rely on a maniacal robot sewing machine). But as much as I whine about the ol’ new sewing machine, it did me right for my little pillow party. Am I a professional seamstress? No. Can I sew three straight lines without ending up with a birdsnest-looking-pile-o’-thread? I did this time. Strike up the band! Cue the fireworks!

And on the surprisingly-not-as-annoying-as-I-thought-it-would-be side of things, it only took me about four commercial breaks during Modern Family to whip up both pillows (so maybe about 12 minutes total? I was watching last week’s episode by the way, so don’t ruin this week’s for me).

Then I just stitched them closed during Bethenny Ever After (this took me much longer than it should have because I kept stopping to stare at the screen and guffaw at my imaginary BFF). But all in all, they look a lot less demented much better than I expected. Actually – dare I say it? – like real pillows.

Sue Sewn Edge

Sue Done Trio

Oh and as pretty as the pillows look when they’re all fluffed and photographed for the blog, more often than not they really look like this. Because Burger makes it a personal goal of his to squish every pillow in the house into an ugly little blob. But he’s cute so we deal with it.

Sue Burger Squish

Sometimes he even stops to nuzzle Sue, as if to say “you’re my favorite napkin-turned-pillow too.” It’s always nice to get pillow validation from an eight pound chihuahua.

Sue Burger Nuzzle

So that’s the tale of Sue The Pillow(s). Have you guys sewn any napkin pillows lately? Did you die over the whole Gloria hair-rings/earrings thing on Modern Family last week? Me too. Can’t wait to watch this week’s episode tonight.

Comments

  5. Laura Bellamy says

    Dear Sherry,
    Very cute. I made pillows from some beautiful wool sweaters from the thrift store. One has lovely designs of big-horn sheep across it. They are very pleasing, soft and I love just looking at them.

    Reply

  6. Christina says

    Gloria IS so funny!
    Love your pillows! I have have “excelled” in sewing squares, and look how lovely they turn out!

    Reply

  8. Charlotte says

    Way to go, Sherry! I HATED my sewing machine for about three years before I finally asked a friend to come over and help. I still don’t know what I was doing wrong but a year later Janome and I are getting along swimmingly. I now call that friend “the robot whisperer.” I also would rather do things by hand than mess with crazy maniacal tools. I’m terrified of my circular saw!

    Also, LOVE Modern Family and Bethenney. I can’t even watched Housewives anymore now that she’s gone! She’s hilarious.

    Reply

  9. Kara says

    I get cute napkins when they’re on sale and sew them into cute little lunch bags for co-workers birthdays! Super fun, creative AND economical. :)

    Reply

  11. Christine Schwalm Design says

    Okay, I need to get off my lazy bum and sew some pillows. I’ve had great fabric left over from a client project that I wanted to use but I’ve been afraid. I think the best price I saw on down fills was actually at Ikea. I shall brave my fear of my sewing machine and get busy!

    Reply

  13. Ashley says

    Cameron: You punctured our daughter!
    Gloria: But did you see both sides? I didn’t just do the gay ear, look!

    Reply

  15. Minda McDorman says

    such a timely post! why? because the other night, at a slightly boring party held in a really quirky lil’ shop i happened upon a book of “60’s trendy clothes” which i immediately grabbed and hid in the corner to peruse…and who did i stumble into on this glossy journey through my favorite era? sue the napkin’s cousin, shania the shirt! http://flic.kr/p/9CZYWM

    Reply

  16. jo says

    Sherry,
    Sue-the-pillows look awesome! But I think they look even better when they’re squashed into little Burger bean bags. How could you not just love that?
    I have this gorgeous silk scarf, mostly turquoise with some olive and bright orange and yellow (sounds disgusting, but in reality very beautiful) that I have been wanting to turn into a pillow. I keep getting stalled on the project, though, because the fabric seems so delicate. I was thinking about maybe backing it with a sturdier fabric, like muslin, but that means, I think, that I’d have to quilt it down. I haven’t figured out all the logistics for it yet.
    Anyway, congrats on conquering Oh Brother for this project! I love the result.

    Reply

    • heather says

      Jo, as long as your careful there are iron-on fusible backings you could put on to sturdy the material if it’s too thin. It wouldn’t require quilting at all. A fusible interfacing would work well for that. I wouldn’t iron directly on the silk though, place a clean cloth or towel between the two (or better yet, don’t try and iron the front at all and just stick to the back). It would give a little stiffness, and it would reduce slipping through the foot.

  18. Erika says

    Love these! I’m a little jelly since I have the same napkins and I love the idea of making pillows with them. But, alas, my boyfriend is not too fond of them (which hurts my heart). So I will live vicariously through you and your lovely and fun pillows.

    Reply

  19. steph says

    Sue the Pillow look great! i had a couple of “fancy” silk Marc Jacobs scarves that i’ve had forever and never wore. not once. so instead of them sitting in a drawer i big pillow out of them – a european size pillow fits perfectly. i was nervous about sewing silk on a sewing machine – im a total novice like you – but it wasnt as scary as i thought. i wish i knew how to include a pic!

    Reply

  21. steph says

    trust my, if i can do it, you can! you made CURTAINS for goodness sakes. keep up the good work and and early happy birthday to miss clara – can’t wait to see how you pimp the house for the partay.

    Reply

  22. heather says

    Good job, Sherry! The Oh Brother isn’t too bad ;)

    Marden’s up here has really good sized pillows for cheap (though they aren’t the best fabric, etc.) but they are way cheaper than any pillow form. So, my next plan of attack is to purchase “pillow forms” from them and then make zipper covers to throw over. I like the idea of using napkins though! I’ve heard of using sheets to make duvet’s (since two sheets in a certain print is always way cheaper than the duvet…which is pretty much the same thing).

    Reply

  26. Bethanyb says

    I SO know what your going though with Oh Brother. Just got a ‘tester’ sewing mechine myself and its totaly kicking my butt! Good to see you got yours working. I totaly used paper to test on and went up and down until I could do a straight line. not there yet with the turning though but it looks like your doing great. heres to makeing pillows,curtains, flag banners, and anything els your sewing machine can handle!

    Reply

  27. Sarah says

    You’re lucky Burger only weighs 8 pounds! My 43 pound dog likes to nap like that on top of one of our chair cushions. She crushes it pretty good to say the least (though, I have to admit, she does look really cute and comfortable before I chase her off!).

    Reply

  28. Ana says

    Your pillows look great, Sherry. I learned how to sew a long time ago and fell out of practice. I wish I did more home projects — my grandma and my dad’s grandmother sewed professionally. My great-grandmother made wedding dresses, so she was way far beyond any of my basic straight stitching. (The shame!) And I can’t hand sew so I found the finish on your pillows extra impressive. Oh, and my dog (a Chihuahua mixed with Schnauzer and miniature poodle) does the same thing as Burger — he’ll build little nests of throw pillows and smush them all down to get comfortable. It’s just not worth having nice ones with the loving abuse he puts them through.

    Reply

  29. Vee Writer says

    Is there a furniture-naming craze going on that I’m just now noticing? A friend of mine just introduced me to her “Chauncy the Chair” and you’ve got Karl and Sue and other characters. I feel I should get on this bandwagon, but I’m just not sure my furniture warrants special names. Sigh. Lovin’ your blog, kids. Delightful.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Haha, well most of our names came from Ikea (Ed the bed is really the Edland bed from Ikea, and Karl is the Karlstad sofa from Ikea, etc). Places like Pottery Barn and Crate & Barrel have been naming things for a while now (there’s a Clara chair at C&B!) so maybe the rest of the world is just following suit! Haha.

      xo,
      s

  32. Crystal @ 29 Rue House says

    I’ve seen the napkin pillow post mentioned several times since I started reading a month or so ago and I swear until I read this post tonight I just always assumed you made a pillow out of paper napkins….yeah I must have been a bit skeptical about how that turned out since I never once decided to click the link and check it out. :)

    Reply

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