0 The Easiest Way to Sew a Sham (and paint it too!)

I have sewed many-a-pillow in my life: pillows with piping and trim, bolsters, cushions, you name it. I have discovered the easiest way to make a pillow or sham with a removable cover so it can be removed for washing. And it does not involve zippers, thank you very much!

For this project, I wanted a sham to match my newly painted duvet cover, so I had to paint it first. This sham is Euro size (26" x 26"), so I cut my fabric 27" x 27", to allow a 1/2" seam allowance all the way around the pillow.

I placed the square piece of fabric on plastic.

Since I was making a pinwheel design on the pillow, I ironed some creases in the fabric to show center and also thirds going up and down the square.

I taped off my first triangle to the center and taped it.

Then painted it.

I continued all the way around the fabric, using the creases as guides.

I added some had-painted gold stripes between the triangles of color, let it dry, and then heat set the fabric, the same way as the duvet cover. I then washed it in cold with the duvet cover and let it air dry.

It washed up perfectly!

To make the pillow cover, you will cut two pieces of fabric for the back the same height as the pillow front, and each piece needs to be approximately 2/3 the width of the pillow width.

Press the inside edge of the fabric, rolling it over twice and sewing along the seam creating a nice clean edge for the pillow "pocket".

Place the front of the sham on a flat surface with the right side of the fabric facing up. Line up the two back pieces with the right side inside (facing the front of the sham), overlapping them. The edges of the pack pieces should line up with the edge of the sham front.

Pin the outside edges of the sham, trimming any extra fabric so they are the exact same size.

Sew all four sides, all the way around, like a box. Trim the corners so that when you turn the sham inside out you will have a nice crisp corner.

Turn inside out, and press the seams.

Slide in the insert and you will have a perfect sham with crisp edges, every time! And if you need to remove the insert to wash the cover, it's super easy.

I've used this method many times, and it always works beautifully!