DIY Sofa Throw Pillow

I saw this pillow knock-off on the Twigg Studios blog and I thought, “I can do that.” :0)  You can head over to her blog to see her directions, but as much as I love the Twigg Studios blog, her directions for this project were not very clear. 

I decided to try the project on my own and went on a Google hunt for the original pillow.  Imagine my surprise when I found the Horchow Window Pane Pillow for a nice price of $115!!!  What!?!  It was even on sale, but $56.90 is still way too much for me to pay for one throw pillow!  But I sure did love the look, so I decided to try it on my own.  Below are my steps for re-creating the $115 Horchow pillow for less than $10.

You first got a peek of my pillow on my front porch reveal, but I thought it was hidden too much and you weren’t able to really enjoy all the work I put into it, so later on it found a new home in the living room (which I am much happier with).

How To Make Your Own $115 Horchow Pillow:
Cut List (for an 18 x 18 pillow):

• 1 -  20 x 20 square (front cover base)
• 2 -  20 x 13 rectangles (back pocket sleeves)
• 12 - 20 x 2 1/2 inch strips (for edge and center strips)
• 4 - 25 x 2 1/2 inch strips (for long corner-to-corner strips)
• 4 -  10 x 2 1/2 inch strips (for short corner strips)

1. On all 20 strips you will fold in the edges 1/4 inch and then fold them over again, pin, and sew down the edge.  This part of the process is the most time consuming.



2.  Pin down the strips on the front cover base piece.  There is a weave-type pattern to the front of this pillow, so I carefully looked at the original picture online to set up my strips.  These will not get sewn down, so pin them carefully so they won’t move around as you sew the edges.  I started with the edge and center strips, then moved to the small corner strips, then finally finished with the long cross-ways strips.



3.  Place the backing pieces on top of the front piece you have just created (right sides together), pin, and sew a seam all the way around the piece.



4.  VERY CAREFULLY turn your piece right side out.  Be careful for all the pins that you still have holding down the front strips.  Take out all the pins, stuff your pillow with a pillow form, and find the perfect place to show off your work!



If I was to do it again….

1.  I would either not allow so much overlap (I allowed 2 inches for pillow “fluffiness” and I probably could have gotten away with 1 inch) OR I would purchase a 20 x 20 pillow form.  If my pillow case was filled more completely it would hold my strips in place more and keep them from puckering.

2.  I would make my strips a little thicker to more closely resemble the original piece.

I am very please with my imitation $115 pillow!  It is so unique and I have already gotten a couple of complements.  Joe was impressed that I began working on this while he played his video game and by the time he was done we had a finished project!