Scrabble Inspired Pillow Covers {Tutorial}

Ok, so Scrabble is a serious thing in this house.

Like, serious.

Not with me so much as my husband- he is one of those scrabble players.

The ones that know the 2 letter words (and why the heck those are important) and the 90 point words.

The ones that you play and by the second turn you are already 50 points behind.

Yeah, that one.

Me however...not. so. much.

English has never really been my thing and, quite frankly, I can't spell to save my life.

But I still play, I am completely comfortable in the fact that I will never win. Honestly, I don't think I would want to win because it might cause heart palpitations in the ol' hubster.

There you go- I loose on purpose... (bursts out in laughter- yeah, right LOL)

BUT ANYWAYS....

That is the long winded back story to these pillow covers, I took one of our favorite games and morphed it into a decorating solution. I made covers for some hand me down pillows and it is a win/win/win/win... cute, cheap (used my fabric and material stash), covers the pillows and can be removed to be washed AND it is only a 3 point word so it might just drive Wade a little bit nuts, (is that wrong?).

Click "Read More" to check out the tutorial!

Materials:

Fabric for the front, back and letters (I used a different backing than front, you don't have to, I just wanted a pop of color)

Steam a Seam (just used this for the first time and it is pretty awesome, any fusible webbing would work)

Sewing machine

Letter stencils or computer

Scissors

Iron and board

Pillows

First I worked on cutting the fabric, your back piece is going to be bigger than your front piece. First measure your front piece to fit your pillow. Mine was 18 x 18.

Then cut your back piece, I had fabric that was 18 x 24 (so basically make the backing fabric 6 inches longer in one direction) so I just left it the way it was.

Next make your letters, I used word art in my Microsoft word to print out just outlines of letters, I did this mostly because they were big and it didn't use a lot of ink. I enlarged the font to 96 and then expanded it to fit the page (if anyone needs a tutorial of how I made this email me or leave a message  in the comments and let me know and I can do that). I cut out the letters and traced them in reverse on the webbing. (The next few steps are how I did it according to my products directions, you will follow yours- also you don't technically need this, just makes it easier, if you cut out the letters and pin them well you could probably sew them one without it). Oh and of course you could use your Cricut or other die cutting machine but I need a new mat and nothing makes me crazy instantly like trying to use an old mat when I should really just get a new one.

Then, I ran the iron over the wrong side of my fabric and put the webbing on.

Next, I cut out the letter with all the layers together.

Then, I was able to pull off the backing carefully leaving the webbing behind.

Now, it was as simple as placing it on and ironing it down. ( I have an ironing board but I just don't feel like it is that stable, if a cat jumped on it there could be a catastrophe so I made this set up instead.)

(old towel on my very stable and huge desk)

Make sure you save those scraps! I printed out a "1" and traced it on the scraps to make my point markers for each pillow and then added those.

Then iron on the little letter and sew very close to the edge around all of the letters and numbers.

 

Now it comes to sewing the back to the front, first I cut my backing piece in half parellel to the shorter side. So, my 18 x 24 piece became and (2) 18 by 12 in pieces.

Lay out your front piece, front side up.

Then lay out one of your backing pieces, face down and towards one side. Fold over the edge in the center about and inch and a half and pin.

Add your second backing piece to the other side and fold over the center again, then I just moved my pin from the first piece to the second piece and pinned through all layers. Last, before I took it to the sewing machine, I pinned the corners because when I pin I feel like I know what I am doing  to make it easier to sew.Then sew all sides! That is the great part about this method is that you sew all the way around the fours sides, you don't have to sew, leave an opening, stuff and close- since it is a cover, you leave the back opened so you can take the pillow in and out.

There, you are done!! All you need to do is put your pillows inside and stare in awe at your mad skills!

Cute, and very successfully occupying my mind late at night this weekend when my hubbs was out of town. 

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