How To Make A Flanged Pillow

Pillows are such a great way to add some color and texture to a room, including a bedroom.  Today I’ll be sharing how to make a flanged pillow, which is one of the most popular types of bedding pillows.

Be sure to check out our how to make pillows page to see many other great pillow tutorials!

Before I get started with the tutorial, I want to mention a pet peeve of mine about flanged pillows.  I know you’ve all seen this.  The flanged pillow with the floppy corners.

I like to beef up my flanged pillows, so that the corners don’t droop or flop.  Below are some pillows I made for a client’s guest bedroom.  Notice how the corners stand up nicely.

In this tutorial, I’ll give you step-by-step instructions for making a  flanged pillow with no floppy corners.

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How To Make A Flanged Pillow

For this pillow I used a 18″ x 14″ pillow form, and made my flanges at 1 1/2″.  You can make your pillow whatever size you want, maybe a bed- size pillow with larger flanges.  Just adjust your measurements accordingly.

Materials needed:

18″ x 14″ pillow form
3/4 yard of fabric
1/2 yard of lining
1/2 yard of batting
16″ zipper
Thread to match fabric

Instructions:

1. Cut your front piece of fabric 22″ wide x 18″ long.

2.  Cut 2 pieces for the back of pillow.  The first piece needs to be cut at 22″ wide x 15 3/4″ long, and the second at 22″ wide and 3 3/4″ long.

3.  Serge the 2 edges of the back pieces where the zipper will be inserted.

4. Sew the two back pieces, right sides together, using a 3/4″ seam allowance.  Use a small stitch for the first 3 1/2″ and the last 3 1/2″, and a long stitch for the middle.  This is where the zipper will be sewn in, and the long stitches will be taken out later.

5. Sew in the zipper.  I’ve created a video to show how to insert a zipper in this type of pillow.

Here’s a photo of the front and back sides after the zipper has been sewn in.

6. Sew the front to the back, right sides together, using a 1/2″ seam allowance.  Clip the corners and turn right side out.

7.  Press seams.

8. Cut both the batting and the lining at 20 1/2″ wide x 16 1/2″ long.  This is what you’ll use to beef up the pillow so that the corners don’t droop.

9. Fold the batting in half and insert into the pillow cover.

10.  Do the same for the lining.  Laying it on top of the batting.

11.  Close the zipper, and pin all layers of the pillow together in several places, to keep all of the layers from shifting.

12.  Sew the flange stitch line 1 1/2″ away from the outer edges of the pillow cover.

13.  Insert the pillow form into the cover, and close the zipper.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this how to make a flanged pillow tutorial!  Now you’re all set to make your own custom pillows for your bed!

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