How To: Zippered Pillow Cover - the easy way

Last week I had some fun Free Motion Quilting a pretty vintage tea towel (watch the video here). I was very happy with the result, and this week I'll show you how I made it into a zippered cushion cover (pillow if you are in the US).
Inserting zippers are usually quite frustrating for me, so I tend to avoid them where possible, but the technique I'll be showing you today is fool proof.



You will need:
Fabric/quilted panel for front and back of cover
Zipper longer than the width of the cover
Pillow insert
Zipper foot
General sewing supplies

How to:
1. Gather your supplies.
2. Attach your zipper foot.
3. Cut your front panel to size (same size as your insert), as you can see the zipper is slightly longer.
4. Cut your back panel to match the front (I have used wool blanketing).

5. Align your open zip to the edge of the panel, right sides together, then sew as close to the teeth as possible with your zipper foot. Make sure the start and end of the zip overhang at the ends.
6. When you are about a third of the way down, zip up the zipper to a closed position and continue to sew.
7. This is how it should look.
8. Align the front panel to the back one and pin into place, right side facing in.
9. Sew zipper as per step 5 & 6

10. Yay! Zipper inserted without any swearing.
11. Now pin front and back together and stitch along the dotted lines.
12. Take note of how the zip ends are pinned, this will ensure finished cover corners are neat where the zipper meets. Also make sure zipper is open about a third of the way to ensure you can turn inside out.
13. Reinforce the seam over the zipper ends by reversing over it a few times, just being careful that the needle doesn't hit the teeth as there may be a risk of breakage, especially with a metal zip. Cut off the excess ends and trim any bulky seams. Serge raw edges if desired.

Now turn your cover inside out and insert your pillow insert. Time to make a cup of tea and enjoy your handy work.

Psst! Did you notice the awesome pixelated wall paper in my lounge room? Unfortunately it's not real, I created it with the magic of Photoshop using a couple of excellent tutorials by Katrina of Pugly Pixel.
To create the pixel texture: PS I Love You: Pixel Blocks
To add the wallpaper: PS I Love You: How to Replace Backgrounds

Katrina is so creative and generous with her knowledge, she inspires me to experiment, learn, and try to create a better blog with every post I write, and photo I shoot and edit. Thanks for being so awesome Katrina!