My Favorite DIY Fall Pillow Covers

It is officially the end of summer, so let’s decorate for fall! Fall pillow covers are an easy way to shift the seasons.

Making the fall pillow covers yourself is not only inexpensive but also easy and fun. I have a favorite fall item and I used it to inspire this brand-new pillow cover. Can you guess what my favorite fall item is?

Favorite Fall Decor Item – Fall Pillow Covers

Did you guess right?

The answer is faux pomegranates.

Every fall I share my favorite fall decor items and you probably have already seen pomegranates in my family room, my kitchen, and the dining room.

There is something about faux pomegranates that has me absolutely, head over heels in love. Perhaps it is the deep ruby red pinkish color of the fruit. Or the rustic feel of the branches, pomegranates, and leaves. Or maybe it is the welcome of orange tinged with red that makes everything feel fall-like.

Whatever it is, I am smitten.

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Pomegranate Inspired Fall Pillow Covers

So what do you think of my free motion stitch embroidery fall pillow cover?

When I started thinking about making some new pillow covers, I literally looked around my home and saw the faux pomegranate branches everywhere. It’s funny how inspiration can sometimes be right under your nose!

One of the easiest ways to shift seasons in your home decor is to swap out pillow covers. It is inexpensive and adds an instant pop of seasonality.

Free Motion Stitch Embroidery

What is free motion embroidery?

Free motion machine embroidery is a type of sewing that you do on a regular sewing machine but you can move the material in any direction while sewing it on your machine.  Normally when you sew, the machine automatically moves the fabric forward. When you sew free-motion embroidery, you get to move the fabric so you determine exactly where you want to sew. You can move sideways, forward, backward, and create any shape you want. Like a star! All you need is a quilting foot.

The free-motion quilting foot, sometimes called a darning foot, is designed so that the sewing machine needle passes through a small ring on the foot. Instead of hopping, these feet float over the fabric without providing pressure.  The Foot releases the fabric when the needle is in the up position, allowing you to move the fabric freely.

All you need is the free motion foot for your machine. This foot may vary based on the type of machine but I linked a “universal” one.

I read a lot about lowering the “feed dogs” on your machine when stitching free motion embroidery. Feed dogs are the little teeth on your sewing machine that feed your fabric evenly through the machine. These teeth are extremely important because they help us produce perfectly spaced, even stitches whenever we sew garments, piece quilts, or applique shapes on our machine. Most people recommend that you lower the feed dogs for free motion embroidery.

For this pillow, I lowered the feed dogs using a lever on my machine. It worked perfectly.

How to Make This Pomegranate Fall Pillow

Just so you know, my goal, for all of my DIYs, is to make something that looks expensive and high quality but is easy to make and has an inexpensive supply list.

Pillow covers are one of my favorite DIYs for two reasons. They check the boxes for both of my two goals and they make a huge impact on your home decor. An added bonus is that the supply list is really short. You may already have everything you need on hand!

What You Need to Make This Pillow

• Line drawing artwork – See below where to find this!
• pillow cover
• Water Soluble Marking Pen
• acrylic paints in the colors you want
• paint brush
• sewing machine and thread
• free motion embroidery foot

Don’t Be Intimidated, You Can Make This!

• one – Select your pattern. Search the internet for words such as “fruit line drawing” or “pear line drawing” or “pumpkin drawing”. You will see lots of line drawings that you can print and use as a pattern. I used two different patterns.
• two – Print the pattern(s) and lay out the design.
• three – Trace the pattern by putting the printed pattern inside the pillow cover. You will be able to see the pattern through the fabric. Using your Water Soluble Marking Pen, trace the pattern onto the fabric.

• four – Next, mix your paint colors. I always make two shades of every color. One is a medium shade and the second one is lighter (use yellow and a tiny bit of white to make it lighter.)
• five – Fill in the shapes with paint, always using two colors for every shape. Keep the colors consistent and paint the lighter shade on the same side of every shape.
• six – Add leaves, branches, and maybe even smaller items to help the pillow shapes connect.

• seven – Let the paint dry completely before you start the embroidery. Using your sewing machine with the free motion embroidery presser foot, stitch around the painted areas to define the shapes.
• eight – Add some of the highlights by adding more stitching.
• nine – Look at how much detail the dark thread adds to the design!

When you are done, be sure to iron the pillow cover. This will set the paint into the fabric.

The before and after is always just amazing to me!

This is not a project that requires any level of perfection, so loosen up and have fun with it!

Are You a Better Shopper Than a Crafter?

If crafting is not your thing or, you just don’t want to make this craft, I’ve got you covered with fall decor. Simply browse and click!

More Fall Pillow DIY Ideas

Tap on any of the links for more DIY fall pillows.

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