DIY Dish Towel Pillow Cover

Whip up an easy DIY dish towel pillow cover with fringe in no time. And sew or no sew...that's up to you.


A little secret? Up until about a week ago, that Christmas pillow I made from a Target placemat back in December, was still on my bed. Yup. It was just too pretty to put away and I hadn't found anything else to replace it with.

So. I left it.

Sure, I had the white pillow that used sit there, but now that I had grown accustomed to a little bit of color in the space, I needed it.

However, hard as I looked, nothing caught my eye. I had taken my pillow making skills up a notch, simply by choosing that holiday placemat with trim and I was on the hunt for something equally as impressive.

Luckily, I found this darling embroidered bunny kitchen towel at Home Goods. It was $6.99 for a pair and they both came embellished with the sweetest ball fringe. Done.

How To Make A Dish Towel Pillow Cover

This was an easy one, because I don't craft any other way. If you can't sew or don't want to, don't be deterred, you can use fusible web to make your own. There are so many gorgeous dish towels out there today, it's not difficult to find one that suits you and they're so inexpensive, you can make one for each month of the year if you wish.

Best of all, since the ends are already finished, the need for a lot of sewing ~ or ironing ~ is reduced and oftentimes, they come with trim which gives the pillow cover a designer look.

1. Measure

Step one, I started by measuring my Christmas placemat pillow against the towel to map out my plan and make sure I had enough fabric to make it work with minimal sewing.

2. Fold And Pin

Step two, I folded my towel so that it would fit my pillow, leaving a little bit of extra fabric on the sides for seam allowance. Turns out I didn't need to trim the length at all.

3. Pin And Stitch (Or Iron!)

Step three, I pinned my towel, inside out, so it would stay put while I stitched the sides closed. Using my very well behaved sewing machine, I ran a stitch up each side with the foot right on the edge of the fabric.

Now, if you're not into sewing, that's ok, instead of using a needle and thread you can close up the seams with iron on fusible web. I've recovered a chair this way and repaired my sofa. It's durable and super simple to use.

The only difference is you'd leave the dish towel with the right sides facing out, slip the fusible web in between the front and back edge and iron.

4. Cut Away The Excess

If you noticed in the photo above, there's a lot of extra fabric on the sides that's not necessary. Once the seams were in place, I just cut it away with my super sharp fabric scissors.

You can remove it before you sew if you prefer, but I like to leave it in place until I'm certain I won't need it. I'm not a proficient seamstress, I make mistakes all the time...so I like a little insurance.

5. Close It Up

The final step in this process was close my pillow cover up. At first I thought about adding a zipper, but the opening would've ended up being very small and I didn't want to have to squish my pillow that much to make it work...especially since this cover was going to be temporary.

The other thing I had to consider was that delicate ball fringe. It was the star of the show and I wanted it to be very visible. The easiest method to accomplish that was by closing the pillow up in a way that it would lay flat so I could pull it to the front and have the pillow sit on it when displayed.

Lazy crafter, remember?

6. Add Velcro

In the end, I settled on velcro tabs to make it work. It was super quick and since I had some in my craft cabinet it didn't cost me a dime.


I never cut the length of the towel, so I had a bit of extra slack at the bottom which allowed the fringe to fold forward when the pillow was on the bed. I used just enough velcro to make sure the seam was taut and flat. And no sewing here...I used the sticky kind, like I did when I covered my cabinets.


And...it worked like a charm. The pillow sat on the fringe as expected and brightened up the entire room.

Trim really does make a difference. I'm sure this pillow would be almost as cute without it, but that one detail takes the look from crafty DIY to Did you get that at Pottery Barn? 



For less than ten bucks and in about ten minutes, I ended up with a brand new embroidered pillow cover with exquisite detailing for my master bedroom.

It will take me all the way through spring and to be honest even summer....although I could turn it around and upside down and display the butterfly side come June or July.



So that's actually two pillow covers for less than ten bucks and in about ten minutes.

Definitely worth the wait.

Would you try this?