Fat Quarter Pillow Cover – Sewing School
Can you believe we are already 5 months into Sewing School?? This month I think we are ready to talk about a zipper!! It sounds really hard and I will be honest I was totally intimidated for many years! So intimidated that I only started using them 2 years ago (which is 8 years into my sewing life!) Now that I know how to use them they are not nearly as scary and I actually really enjoy adding a zipper to things! This month we will make a few different pillow covers. Make sure that you have made your own Pillow Form (<—-using that tutorial) because this is not a standard size pillow cover as you will see. This is a tutorial for a fat quarter pillow cover.
This is just one of my 50+ easiest sewing tutorials. Check out the rest HERE.
Fat Quarter Pillow Cover – Sewing School
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Supplies:
1 Fat Quarter – I am using Art Gallery Fabrics (my favorite!)
1 Seven Inch All Purpose Zipper
1 Finished Pillow Form – Tutorial HERE.
All your standard sewing supplies…see what I use HERE.
Instructions:
Press your fat quarter so that it is nice and flat. Then find the edge that is 18″ long. Cut it straight down the middle. You should have two strips that are 9″ x 22″, as pictured below.
Next we are going to prepare our zipper. You want to grab two little scrap pieces of fabric. They can be pretty small, 2″ is plenty. These will show a bit so make sure it matches your main fabric. Pin the scrap pieces right side down on either side of the zipper, as shown below.
Sew these two scrap pieces in place.
Now fold the fabric over, press it in place, and pin.
Top-stitch each side into place.
Then you can trim the sides where it goes past the zipper. 
Next take your zipper and line it up right side down on the 8″ edge of your fabric. The fabric should be right side up, so the right side of the fabric is facing the right side of the zipper. The right side of the zipper is the side where the pull is so you can open and close the zipper. Pin this in place. Now change your presser foot to the zipper foot. Line up the piece so that the zipper and the bulk of the fabric point to the left away from your machine. The presser foot should be lined up so that the majority of the foot is to the right so it won’t really touch anything when you sew. You should be able to get the needle right up close to the edge of the zipper. Sew it in place along the entire edge, starting all the way to the edge where you placed your scrap fabric. 
Then open up the seam you just made so you can get to the other edge of the zipper. Again line the right side up with the right side of the other piece of fabric. This is basically repeating the first step with the other side of the zipper and your second piece of fabric. Sew the zipper in place again on this side. When I sew the zipper I stop when I come to the pull. Make sure the needle is down in the fabric, then pull the zipper pull out of the way to where you have already sewn and continue to the end. If you try and sew around the pull it will make your piece pull away and make your seam crooked.
This is what your piece will look like now. 
Top-stitch over each side to keep the fabric from bunching and getting stuck in the zipper. 
Now the last step is to sew around the remaining three edges. Make sure that your zipper is open before you do this or it will be difficult to get the piece turned out. Once you have sewn trim all four corners and turn the piece out.
Tada! I love this project because it uses the whole fat quarter with ZERO waste! Seriously I have way too many scraps!! Plus this pillow is the perfect size for my dining chairs. They are all wood so they can be hard and this is perfect for some back support.
Questions? Make sure you hop over to the Sewing School group on Facebook to get feedback from the other “students” and I am there everyday as well to answer questions! I would also love to see your finished product so head over and share!!
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