If you’ve been in a craft store, book store (or any store, for that matter) lately, I’m sure you’ve seen coloring books for grownups. I’ve resisted the urge to buy one, but I will confess I still enjoy a little coloring project now and then. And so does my Mom, and my teenage niece, and my best friend, and a co-worker… It’s definitely not just for kids anymore! So when I ran across coloring page fabric at my local Joann’s recently, I knew I had to make something with it.
I debated a bit and decided on throw pillows, with a bit of fabric left over that will eventually become a zipper pouch. I added black piping around the edges of the pillows to dress them up a bit, and made them with a zipper so the covers can be removed and laid flat for easier coloring.
If you’d like to make a set of your own, you’ll need:
- A 16″ pillow form
- A half yard of coloring page fabric (see the list at the end of the post for sources)
- A 14″ white zipper
- A package of black piping
- A yard of Pellon 911 fusible interfacing
The coloring fabric I used was fairly lightweight, so I backed it with fusing interfacing to give the cover a little more structure and prevent the markers from bleeding through when it’s colored.
To begin, cut two 16-1/2″ squares from your fabric and two 16-1/2″ squares from the interfacing. Fuse the interfacing to the back of the fabric squares following the manufacturer’s instructions.
To prevent empty, pointy corners on the pillows, I always shape my corners just a bit. Fold each of the fabric squares in half horizontally and mark the center edges. Open them up, fold them in half vertically, and mark the center edges again.
Measure in 1/2″ from all four corners and mark with a dot.
Using a ruler, connect the dots with the center lines and trim along the lines. Don’t worry – your finished pillows will look square, but that little bit of shaping makes the corners look so much better!
Pin the piping all the way around the outer edge of one of the pillow pieces. I love Clover Wonder Clips for holding binding and piping in place. They’re so much easier to use than pins!
To help the piping lay flay around the corners, clip notches close to but not through the stitching.
Stitch the piping in place and set that pillow cover piece aside.
On the other piece, turn under one edge to create a 3/8″ hem and press. Measure in 3″ from either side (measuring from the point at the center of the side rather than the trimmed corner) and mark.
Pin the zipper to the fabric with the right side of the zipper facing the right side of the fabric, centered between the two lines. The folded edge of the fabric should extend just past the zipper teeth. This will create a little flap to cover the zipper on the finished pillow.
Stitch the zipper in place, starting and stopping at the marks you made on the backing fabric. You’ll end up with a little bit of the zipper extending past the stitching on either side.
Lay the other pillow piece on top of the zipper, right sides facing, with the zipper teeth lined up over the “bump” in the piping.
Stitch the pillow cover to the zipper, starting and stopping 3″ from the edge so the seam matches the one on the other side of the cover.
Open up the zipper partway and pin the two halves of the pillow cover together, right sides facing. Pin the loose ends of the zipper out of the way.
Stitch all the way around the pillow, beginning at the zipper stitching on one side and continuing around the the other end of the zipper.
Turn the pillow cover right side out, stuff the pillow cover inside and wiggle it around until the pillow is square and the pillow form is pushed out to fill the corners.
Done!
I used fabric from Joann’s for my pillow, but you can also find coloring page fabric online at Fabric.com or on Spoonflower.com. Here are some options:
- Joann’s coloring book mandala fabric
- Michael Miller Color Me collection at Fabric.com
- Wallflowers fabric from Spoonflower.com
- My Butterflies fabric from Spoonflower.com
- Falling Leaves fabric from Spoonflower.com
- Black & White Wallpaper fabric from Spoonflower.com
