I dare you to say it out loud and only say it once. “Pom Pom Pillows, Pom Pom Pillows” Darn, I enjoyed wandering around the house chanting Pom Pom Pillows nearly as much as I enjoyed making them.
These were a breeze to make and yet they look pretty nice I think. I always love the look of damask style prints, and wanted some smaller accent throw pillows (cushions for the UK readers) to go in the bedroom. Black and red are my husband's favorite colors together, and I think this combination looks classy but a little sexy at the same time 😉 A small black and white accent pillow goes with anything and can tone down some other wild colors.
Materials:
- Luxury look fabrics, cotton damask prints, satins, velvet, silk !
- Pom Pom trim
- Snap tape
- A little light interfacing for the snap tape opening
- Zipper foot
I got my trim and tape from Pacific Trimming. [Special offer – 10% off for So Sew Easy readers at Pacific Trimming – use code SoSewEasy.]
How to make Pom Pom Pillows
[Please excuse the dodgy photos in this post. Trying to take photos of simple black and white seemed more than my camera could cope with!]
Pin the pom pom trim to the right side of your pillow cover front, matching the edge of the trim with the raw edge of the fabric. The pom poms face in towards the center. You'll need to curve the trim a little to wrap it around the corners, but better to curve it round than to fold it I found, or you'll end up with your pom poms a bit bunched up.
Simply overlap a little at the start and finish, trimming off any extra pom pom to make them even.
Baste the trim in place within the seam allowance. I found this was a better approach rather than have the trim move about between the layers later on. You can baste with your regular presser foot.
Set the front aside for now and let's work on the back. I made mine with a snap tape closure across the back so I could get my insert out for washing the cover. It's very easy to do and creates an easy to use cover without fiddling with zips. I have an earlier tutorial on how to add in snap tape to a pillow back – find it here.
Once the back is completed, you can simply trim the back a little if needed to match the front and them place them right sides together, matching up corners and raw edges. Pin in place. Because the pillow back already has an opening with the snap tape, we don't need to leave any kind of gap for turning and can sew around all 4 sides.
However, because of the little pom poms, to get up close, you'll need to use a zipper foot. Sew slowly so that you can feel the edge of the tape as you go with your finger. This tape has pretty little scallops along the edge and I wanted to show those so I tried to sew just inside that edge. Because the edge of the trim is even with the edge of the fabric, I could just line up my presser foot, set the needle and sew knowing it would be even all the way around.
Rather than pivot and make a square at the corners, I did curve the seam to match the curve in the trim. Once it was sewn on all sides, I used my overcasting stitch to neaten the seams and prevent fraying. It's my favorite way to neaten seams that aren't really going to show – read more about overcasting here.
Open up the snap tape across the back, turn the cover the right way and add your insert.
And that basically is all there is to it! One very nice looking Pom Pom Pillow with just a few straight lines of sewing. It really is all in the nice fabric you choose and the pretty trim.
I made a second one with another black and white damask style print and added in a ruched band of the first fabric just to co-ordinate the two together. Again, a few lines of straight stitching, a little gathering and it was only minutes to make this one too.
So if you are looking to sew up some throw pillows, try adding some pom pom trim for a very quick and easy way to make them look a little more fancy with not much effort. Want to add a little extra interest with some texture to your pillows like the ruched panel? Check out my review of the Sewing Texture Class for some fabric inspiration!
Black and white with a touch of red is an awesome colour combo!!