Denim Patch Pillow Tutorial

We’re sure you’ve probably noticed, but we have quite the thing for embroidered details these days. Taking a cue from some of our favorite jean jackets we’ve made an easy denim pillow cover for all the patches we’ve been collecting and created the perfect way to work the trend into our home decor.

We made an easy, zipper free pillow cover with frayed edges

supplies:

    1 yard medium or heavy weight denim fabric
    embroidered iron or sew on patches
    fabri- tac glue
    scissors
    pins

start by measuring the pillow you want to cover and make two paper pattern pieces. one for the front that is the size of your pillow (our is 16 x 16 inches) and one for the back overlapping pieces that is as wide as your pillow but half as tall plus 2 inches (so 16 x 10 inches in our case).

start with the smaller back pieces, lay the pattern on the selvedge edge of the denim and trace. repeat this on the other selvedge edge of your piece of fabric.

add an inch sewing allowance (or 1/2 if you have all star sewing skills) on all sides except the selvedge edges and cut both pieces out. next, trace the front piece on the remaining portion of fabric, add the seam allowance all the way around and cut that out as well.

next lay out your pieces as seen below:

the selvedge edges should overlap on top of the front piece.

pin your pieces down and sew together. start with the front side and once you have all the edges sewn down flip over and sew over your stitching for a little extra reinforcement and also to create a crisp looking stitch to contrast with the denim.

once your cover is sewn, trim the edges down and throw it in the wash for a cycle to create the frayed edge effect.

now for the super fun part, take all of the patches you have collected, traded, made or found and play with laying them out on your pillow cover. if you’re not sure how you want to design the cover exactly it’s helpful to take pictures as you go along so you can reference changes and multiple ideas.

depending on whether your patches are iron on or sew on adhere them to your cover accordingly. ours were a combo of both and some vintage patches needed a little extra glue help to keep everything in place.

just like your fave embellished jean jacket this project is all about customization so be sure to have fun with it.