Summer isn’t just about sunshine and ice cream, it’s so much more than that. It’s about sitting on your back porch with a cup of coffee, it’s about relaxing with a good book in the afternoon sun, it’s about enjoying a barbecue with family and friends, it’s about relaxing, comfort, and making memories.
Make your back porch all about relaxing, comfort, and making memories this summer with new brightly colored, water-resistant, outdoor pillows.
THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS. PLEASE READ MY DISCLOSURE FOR MORE INFO.
With a vision of what you want your new outdoor pillows to look like then head to your local fabric store to look at their outdoor fabric selection. Keep a look out for sale days as the outdoor fabric can be pricey. I just happened to go on a day that all outdoor fabric was on a 40% sale at my local JoAnn’s fabric. This saved me a ton of money so be sure to keep a lookout for these sales as they often have them during the summer months.
Materials: 
Tape Measure
Pencil
Scissors
Iron & Ironing Board
Sewing Machine
Step 1: Purchase Fabric 
Purchase the outdoor fabric and inner pillow. I purchased my inner pillow at ikea. Make SURE it is actually outdoor fabric! It will feel thicker than just regular cotton fabric. Outdoor fabric fads less in the sun and can handle light rain. I wanted all four of my outdoor pillows to have different fabric so I picked out my favorite fabric and then picked out three other fabrics that matched the colors from my favorite fabric color.
To make one outdoor pillow that is 20″ x 20″ you will need 23″ by 50″ piece of fabric. The standard width of fabric is 54″ so you could purchase 1 yard per outdoor pillow that you want to make. This only works if the fabric you are purchasing is 54″ wide anything less than that then you will need more than 1 yard of fabric so be sure to ask the width of the fabric you are purchasing.
Step 2: Cut out the Fabric
Now that you have your amazingly beautiful fabric it’s time to cut out what you need. Start by placing the backside of the fabric face up on a table. Measure and mark out a 23″ by 50″ rectangle. Do this for each one of your pillows. In the end, I had four 23″ by 50″ rectangle cutouts.
Step 3: Mark the Fabric
Going around the entire border of the fabric make a mark 1″ from the border. Making a 1″ border around the entire rectangle of the fabric.
Also, mark a line at 40″ from one of the ends. This will help you during step 6.
Step 4: Iron
Place the fabric back side facing up on the ironing board and iron the fabric up to the 1″ border going in a clockwise direction all the way around the fabric.
Once you get all the way around go all the way around the fabric once more folding in at the borderline. 
Step 5: Sew
Sew the two shortest (20″) ends of the rectangle. Do NOT sew the long edges of the rectangle yet. 
Step 6: Fold & Iron
Place the fabric with the front side facing up. Then fold the backside of the fabric up and over to fold to the 40″ line that you made earlier in step 3.
This should allow for 4-5″ remaining at the top and about 6″ at the bottom and about 8-9″ of fabric overlap. This doesn’t need to be exact you just want the OVERALL length to be either 19″ or 20″ in length (see picture on the right).
I try to get my pillows to be closer to the 19″ x 19″ because this will help the inner pillow fill in the pillow and make the pillow look fuller. Trust me your pillow will still fit if your pillowcase is an inch smaller than the pillow itself.
Then iron in place to help the fabric stay in place for sewing.
Step 7: Sew
Sew along the two outer open sides. The one side in the middle of the pillow will remain open to stuff your pillow inside of.
Step 8: Add the Pillow
Turn the fabric inside out to have the front side of the fabric facing out.
Then add the pillow to the inside of the pillowcase. And there you have it! Your new and gorgeous outdoor pillows!
Show Off your Outdoor Pillows!
Make your summer one to remember filled with relaxation and comfort with your new brightly colored outdoor pillows.
Mix and match the fabrics as you wish. Find a fabric you love and just can’t live without and then pick out other fabrics that compliment that one fabric best.
Don’t wait, head down to your local fabric shop and get inspired with all their stylish outdoor fabrics to choose from.
