10 minute envelope back pillow tutorial

Edited September 1: addition mistake corrected!

I bought a few of these pillows from IKEA on clearance a couple of years ago. Cute, no?

The colors are perfect for our family rooms, but it didn't take long for me realize why they were on sale. The down inserts constantly have feathers poking through the linen pillow case. Grrrrr... If you've ever tried to cozy up to one of these, you know how aggravating it really is to get a pointy feather in the ear and can understand why I want to just burn the stinkin' things.

But why burn a perfectly good pillow?

Solution: super simple envelope back pillow cases! All it takes is sewing 4 straight lines. No joke, they will not take more than 10 minutes to complete.

So here's what I did...

Cut a piece of fabric that is the width of your pillow, plus 1 inch by double the height of your pillow, plus 6 inches. Did I make that confusing enough? For my 14"x18" pillow, I cut fabric 19" wide x 34" tall. (18" wide + 1" extra = 19" and 14" tall x 2 = 28" 28" + 6" = 34")

Enough math already. After the fabric is cut, hem the short sides. I fold them over a half inch and iron, then fold them over and iron again.

Sew along the ironed hem.

Lay the pillow or pillowcase in the center of the rightside of the fabric and fold the hemmed edges towards the center. 

I make my overlap in the center because it's easier to keep a couch full of pillows uniform. It appeals to my control freak tendencies.

Slide your pillow/pillowcase out. 

Pin.  If you're lucky, your kitty will decide the only place in the house to sit is right in the middle of what you're doing. 

Sew along the pinned edges.

Turn pillowcase rightside out, poke out the corners and stick your pillow in. That's it. Really!

You can make them fancy like Pottery Barn and attach ties or big buttons, but then this would be the 20 minute envelope pillow, and who has that kind of time?