Why settle for the fabrics and patterns offered at your local stores? You can create custom accent pillows (for much less) that suit your decor and lifestyle perfectly.

Give plain throw pillows personality by adding borders of silk cording.

Give plain sofa pillows vibrant personalities with easy-to-make pillow bands. These are made with wool; when the weather warms, they can be swapped for a more summery material, such as a cheerful printed cotton.

Create batik prints using icing tips, blocks, and dowels to add geometric designs to bedroom pillows.

Needle-felting intertwines wool fibers with each prick of a barbed tool. Handmade pillows show off details made from three types of wool.

Add comfort and color to a dining nook with pillows that hang from knobs on the wall.

Different versions of the running stitch can unify any assemblage of bed pillows, whether you embellish an existing pattern or create a new design.

The scallop shell's iconic shape turns linen pillows into inspired home accessories.

Antique block-print endpapers inspired the intricate design used on these throw pillows.

You don't need a seamstress to give linens a makeover. Our simplified approach to couching, which traditionally involves hand-stitching, doesn't require the labor of a needle and thread -- just cording, fabric glue, and a disappearing-ink pen, plus a marker and graph paper to map out a design.

Brighten outdoor spaces with decorative pillows made from cloth napkins. Use spares when their matches have been tossed or lost, or buy single napkins that catch your eye.

These ruff hewn pillows were created from denim cloth or a denim shirt that had seen better days.

Subtler than graphics, textural accents give pillow covers a decorative extra without being distracting.

A cheerful gingham throw pillow adds a cozy feel to any room. We created this cloth-backed removable pillow cover from squares made with two yarns in varying combinations.

Play around with the design of these pillows -- they're just solid bases with Ultrasuede sleeves that slide over them.

Hawaiian-inspired prints add a tropical feel to quilted pillows that can be thrown on a bed or couch during the warmer months.

With a pretty pile of gold and silver sequin pillows, this sofa is dressed to celebrate. Circles shine inside the square parameters of some of the pillows, while sets of stripes and sequined corners make more subtle adornments. 

Tassels in a palette of red, gold, and orange give a charcoal pillow and throw a custom look while adding texture and bursts of color to an otherwise monochromatic scheme.

Pillows with perfectly imperfect bands of color invite you to relax. Sew your own covers (learn how to make them) or dye store-bought ones.

Nautical stripes in faded blues combine with neutrals and naturals for a room that's modern and inviting. We used the same rugs to make two kinds of pillows: a large one (bigger than a bed pillow) and a smaller one with an envelope-style opening.

Reimagined as a pillow, these vintage map textiles create a school's out mode in the summer months. For pillows, handkerchiefs were backed with linen to reinforce thin fabric and show off the borders and scalloped edges.

Mix -- don't match -- fabrics to create reversible pillows that you won't find on anyone else's sofa. A quick flip is all it takes to change your look, and you can do it as often as you change your mind.

These covers pair lustrous lining fabric (sold by the yard) with wool or other matte yardage. For a colorful seam, the lining's selvage edge is on display.

It wouldn't be spin to describe this project as ridiculously easy. Although in some ways that's exactly what you do with a Knitwit: spin (well, wrap) thread around a circular or square-shaped tool to create loopy rosettes. Rendered with luxurious yarns such as mohair, these florets look decidedly modern.

An classic antique motif gets the contemporary treatment with these graphic pillow covers.