Cross my heart, we’re not making this up, even though it flies in the face of conventional wisdom, anatomical reality and the billions of dollars raked in last year by Victoria’s Secret:Pillows are easy to make or to buy sofa-ready. They can be as fancy or unadorned as you wish. They add notes of color and texture that catch the eye and sometimes beg to be touched.
“I know people who change their pillows four times a year; every season, different pillows,” said Gina Damoulos, co-owner of Triad Plus Fabrics in Roseville, Calif. “Some people change their dining room seat covers seasonally, one set for Thanksgiving and another for Christmas.”
The options are endless. Damoulos knows firsthand. She’s made hundreds of pillows.
“There’s an amazing number of trims and fabrics,” she said. “There’s so many things you can do front and back. And pillows are a quick spruce-up to make your house look different.”
Triad’s Bonnie Treadway teaches “no-sew” pillows – just cut, wrap, pin and knot. Sometimes fabric glue comes in handy, too.
“We want to make it as easy as possible,” Damoulos said. Think of putting a diaper on a pillow, folding and pinning under the cloth edges. That’s the basic concept behind the easiest no-sew pillow.
Treadway also makes no-sew bolster pillows. A little more complicated, these pillows use fabric glue to close seams and attach trim. The tubular pillow is rolled in a piece of fabric. The length-wise edge is tucked under and glued shut. Fabric on the two ends is bunched in rubber bands that are hidden with ribbon or trim. More trim is glued around the pillows at each end to add a finished look.
Damoulos finds inspiration for pillows from many sources.
“I love Pinterest,” she said of the photo-sharing site. “I’m always getting ideas from what people ‘pin’ up. I’m a very visual person. If I can see it, I can figure it out and make it myself.”
Most pillows take less than a yard of fabric. They can be made with scraps, samples or remnants.
Currently hot in pre-made pillow fabrics are big impact colors – orange, deep purple, grays, silvers and turquoise blue. Ikat geometric prints, inspired by Guatemalan and Indonesian weavers, are popular, too. So is anything French, from script prints to traditional fleur-de-lis.
“(Faux) fur is super hot,” Damoulos said of fake lookalikes. “People love it. It’s warm and cuddly – and washable, too.”
So, pile on the pillows. You’ll feel cozier all winter.
