DIY Pillows For Your Rental Couch

By Francine Fluetsch on October 9, 2015

This article is brought to you by CORT, a subsidiary of Berkshire-Hathaway and the world’s largest furniture rental and relocation services company. To learn more about how we can help college students like you, click here.

So you picked out the perfect rental couch, and now you are looking for fun ways to spice it up. You are looking for something that screams “you,” but you also don’t want to spend a lot.

The solution? DIY crafts of course. DIY’s take a little longer than just going to the store and picking something out, but I promise it will be worth it.

image via www.brit.co

You will be able to make exactly what you want, and not have to settle for something that is just okay at the store, and will be able to cherish the memory of making it forever. Plus, if it turns out really good, people will always compliment you on it and you’ll have a talking point if you don’t know what else to say.

If it turns out a bit rough around the edges, you can just say your younger sibling made it for you and your guests will find it adorable. Below you will find some ideas for pillows that you can make yourself and use to embellish your couch to make it stylish and homey.

Ruffle pillow

This pillow will be a great accent topper to your couch. You will need:

-       An extra large T-shirt (or bigger)

-       Rotary cutter, mat, ruler

-       Stuffing of some sort

How to make this ruffle pillow:

1)   Lay your shirt flat on the cutting mat. You are then going to cut the hem off of the bottom of the shirt, and straighten the remaining shirt back out.

2)   Cut a 14X14 square through both layers of the shirt (this is why you need a ruler; don’t just eyeball it!). This will end up being the front and back of your soon-to-be new pillow.

3)   Trim off the sleeves of your shirt. Use the rest of the T-shirt fabric to cut strips that are about 1 ¼ inches wide by 21 inches long.

4)   Next, lay out the strips on the top square of the pillow. You then need to decide how many ruffles you want. (The person doing the tutorial chose to do 10, but it’s up to you!).

5)   If you have a sewing machine (preferred for this project), set it to a long stitch and make a straight stitch down each strip. You can do this by hand, it will just take a bit more time. Make sure not to reverse stitch on them!

6)   Gauge where you want the strips on the pillow, and lay them out with the bobbin thread side facing down. Then pin the strips into place so they won’t run away from you during the next step.

7)   Pull the bobbin thread (thread at the top) gently to create your desired ruffle. Spread the ruffle across the entire pillow and then pin it back into place. Do this for all of your strips. We are getting close to finishing!

8)   Sew down the center of each ruffle, right on top of the stitch you made in step 5.

9)   Pin the front of the pillow to the back of the pillow, with the ruffles inside. Seems counterintuitive but it will make sense.

10) Sew front to back, but make sure to leave a 5-inch gap on one side. Trim the corners till they look all neat, and then flip your pillow right side out. Now you get to stuff that baby!

11)  Sew the remaining gap shut and you are done!

(Tutorial from Floralshowers (jess).)

For the minimalist

If that first one sounded a bit too involved for you, don’t worry. You can still add your own personal touch to your couch in a minimalist way. First, think to yourself what you want on your pillow. If you need help thinking of designs, you can browse Pinterest or Instagram.

Then, you pay a visit to your local craft store, buy some fabric markers (and some stencils if you are like me and can’t draw to save your life), and also purchase a cheap, plainly colored pillow. You can now let your creativity run wild without having to know any real craft skills.

 Sweater pillow

Who doesn’t love sweaters? Now you can give your couch a sweater pillow to cozy up with and make it look really cute. You can use a sweater that doesn’t fit anymore, that got a rip in it, or go to a thrift store and get a nice one for a discount. Going with this sweater option will give your couch something that is unique, sentimental, whatever you want to make it.

Here’s the tutorial on brassyapple.com.

Letter pillow

You always see those pillows that have the family’s last name letter on it, so why not make one for you and your housemates. You are, in a way, a small family after all. You could each make one and let them sit on the couch, reminding each other that it is a shared space and making you all feel included.

You will be able to get the letter shape from Word, so you don’t have to worry about your penmanship or anything. Check out the tutorial on The sweet survival blog.

Spray paint pillows

Who says spray paint is just for outside? You can use this awesome tutorial to create a cool wheat pattern on your pillow, or use the technique and spray paint whatever you want on it. It isn’t too involved and they will come out amazing!

These are just a few of the many ideas you can use to decorate your space. Pinterest is a great resource if you want to branch out from the options given here, and you can also use Google to search for particular images/ideas if you want to see a specific tutorial. Have fun and let your creativity flow!

Looking for a more convenient way to furnish your off-campus apartment? Rent stylish furniture from CORT and save time and money. For more information on furniture rental packages, click here.

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