How To: Make Perfect Cardboard Pillow Patterns

If you’re planning on whipping up some custom throw pillows it can be such a time saver to make cardboard pillow forms in varying shapes and sizes. I have an entire set of these under my work table so I don’t have to re-measure each time. For the sake of the reader’s eyes, I covered a large piece of cardboard with green paper so you don’t have to look at brown cardboard.

In order to make the perfect knife edge pillow, there are a few tips. If you’ve tried to make pillows out of fabric you carefully cut in exact squares or rectangles, you may have been discouraged with the pointy corners that developed after you filled the cover.  These occur when the curved pillow insert fills the flatly sewn corners.  To avoid those ugly little corners, Here’s what you do:

What you need:

• cardboard
• utility knife
• ruler
• pencil

What you do:

1. Determine the desired size of the finished pillow and add one inch.  This will be the size of the pattern for that pillow.

2. With a ruler, measure and outline your pillow

3. Measure and mark points 1/2″ from each corner

4.  Measure and mark points at a distance 1/4 the entire length of the side.

 

 

5.  Connect the 1/2″ mark on the opposite side to the mark made at the 1/4 distance on the other side.

6.  With the sharp utility knife and a straight edge, carefully cut out the pillow pattern as well as the angled corners you just drafted.

And again, here is the PERFECT pillow pattern you can use throughout the years to simple place on top of your folded fabric, trace with a piece of chalk and cut out, pin and stitch, leaving an opening large enough to insert the Perfect Pillow Form.