26 Pillow Projects That are Perfectly Cozy and Comfortable

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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.

Photography: Alpha Smoot

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Embroidered Throw Pillows

There are three easy ways to customize a throw pillow, and all you need is a tapestry needle and yarn. Buy a few affordable wide-weave cushions and trick them out simply by working yarn right into the weave with a tapestry needle, making bows, stripes, or tassels.

Get the Embroidered Throw Pillows How-To
Photography: Kate Sears

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Knotted Seat Cushions

A simple tweak to the quilter's knot can personalize any assemblage of cushions—indoors or outdoors—whether you embellish a dimple or create an entirely new design.

Get the Knotted Seat Cushions How-To
Photography: Ditte Isager

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Striped Rug Pillows

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.

Pillow How-To
Photography: Dana Gallagher

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Pillows with Dyed Bands

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.

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Seersucker Pillow Sleeve

Seersucker works well with other fabrics and lends itself to a lot of different forms -- in this case a comfy pillow.

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Sequin Pillows

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.

Sequin Pillow How-To
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Edged Pillows

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.

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Banded Pillows

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.

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Photography: Lisa Hubbard

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Gingham Batik Pillows

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

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Needle-Felted Pillows

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

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Hanging Pillows

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

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Photography: Krause, Johansen

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Printed Seashell Pillows

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

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Stenciled Pillows

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

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Photography: Ellie Miller

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No-Sew Embroidery 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.

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Napkin-Folded Pillowcase

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.

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Denim Pillows

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

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Textured Pillows

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

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Patchwork Pillow

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.

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Photography: Gentl & Hyers

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Suede Pillows

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

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Quilted Pillow Cover

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

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Photography: Joseph De Leo

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Pillows with Twisted-Cord Tassels

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.

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Photography: Dana Gallagher

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Map Textile Pillows

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.

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Reversible Pillows

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.

Reversible Pillow How-To
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Two-Tone Pillow

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.

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Doily Pillow

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

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