How to Turn Linen Dish Towels Into Provençal-Style Pillow Covers
See how to make top-of-the-line pillow covers by hacking Ikea’s Vardagen dish towels
During a stroll through Ikea’s kitchen department, I found some wonderful linen dish towels with a grain-sack texture that inspired me. I immediately imagined them transformed into pillows with a Provençal look, nice for both the sofa and the bedroom.
These pillow covers are a snap to make with just a few basic sewing skills. Their fresh-looking fabric suits any season.
Materials
Browse dish towels
- Ikea’s Vardagen dish towels (or similar; these are 28 by 20 inches)
- Straight or dressmaker pins
- Sewing machine or hand sewing needle
- Sewing thread
- Tailor’s tape measure
- Scissors
- Grosgrain ribbon
- Wooden buttons
- Iron
Browse dish towels
Tip: To create these pillow covers, I used a sewing machine, but you can sew them by hand as well.
1. Fold the towel in half lengthwise, creasing it slightly, to mark the center. Then spread it out again face up on the table. Fold the two long edges to the center so that the wrong sides are facing up and the edges meet, as shown.
2. Pin the edges of the towel together. It’s important that the pins are parallel to the long edges.
3. Sew the short ends about a half-inch (1 centimeter) in from the edge. Don’t worry about the pins if you are sewing by hand; they can be easily removed after the sewing is done. But if you are using a machine, be sure to pull out the pins before the needle reaches them so that you don’t risk hitting a pin and breaking your needle.
4. Using the measuring tape, find the halfway point across the line where the two edges of the towel meet. Mark this halfway point with a pin. Then mark each of the midway points between this pin and the outer edges of the fabric. When you are finished marking, you should have three pins equally spread across the fabric.
5. Using scissors, cut three grosgrain ribbon pieces, each about 3 inches (8 centimeters) long, and fold each piece into a loop. Adjust so that the loops will fit your buttons, then pin them along one side of the towel where you put the pins in step 4.
6. Sew the three grosgrain ribbon loops on one of the edges, being careful to not catch the other edge of the fabric.
7. Turn the towel right side out and sew on the wooden buttons, lining them up with the grosgrain ribbon loops.
8. Close the buttons and iron the seams flat.
Done! The button placket is so pretty that you may sometimes choose to display the pillow with the big wooden buttons visible on the front.
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