How to make elegant, monogrammed pillow shams with your embroidery machine

Do you ever have one of those projects that turns out better than you could have ever imagined? For me, those experiences are few and far between.  It’s such a bummer to overspend your money and time on a project that turns out like crap. But when it all works out better than expected, that is THE BEST – which is EXACTLY why I’m especially grateful for my monogrammed pillow shams and want to share the idea with you.

The pillow shams I made reside in my guest room, providing a pop of color and a touch of elegance to a room filled with leftover furniture from other parts of our house.   The best part about this project is that I bought the fabric from the remnant bin at my favorite local decorator fabric store (Anatol’s fabric outlet) for less than $10.

Want to steal my look?  Here’s how to do it.

Materials needed (to make 1 pillow sham):

• Fabric  1 -1/3 yards of fabric.  This length of fabric will be enough for regular sized pillow shams or king size pillow shams.
• 9″ of 1″ wide velcro
• Elegant single initial embroidery design
• Basic tools: Thread, pins, scissors, sewing and embroidery machine

How to:

1. 1. Cut 3 pieces of fabric. 1 front piece ( 34-1/4″ x 24″), and two back pieces (18-5/8″ x 24″).  If you are making a king size pillow sham, the shams will need to be wider. For king sized pillow shams, cut the front piece 10″ wider (44-1/4″ x 24″) and the back pieces 5″ wider (23-5/8″x 24″). 
   2. Stitch out an elegant monogram design in the center of the front pillow sham.  I used the Roman Wreath design by Meringue Designs, but this was prior to me digitizing a few elegant monogram wreaths of my own which would be suitable for this project. Check out the elegant wreath with decorative brances and modern single initial wreath.  Both of these designs would work great for this project. 
   3. Finish inside edges of back pieces by folding over 1/2″, pressing and stitching, then folding again 1″ and pressing and stitching. 
   4. Cut the velcro into 3 separate 3″ pieces. Separate the hook side of the velcro from the loop side of the velcro. Stitch them down (hook and loop facing up) as pictured below.  The hook side of the velcro should be stitched on the finished edge of the wrong side of one of the back pieces and the loop side of the velcro should be stitched on the finished edge of the right side of one of the back pieces. 
   5. Flip over the back piece on which you stitched the velcro on the wrong side so that you can connect the two back pieces using the velcro to hold them together. 
   6. Now, place the front piece on top of the back pieces, with right sides together and pin all the way around the outside of the pieces. Stitch the pieces together, leaving about 1/2″ seam allowance.
      
   7. Trim corners of seam allowances, then turn sham right sides out (by undoing the velcro opening) and press. Using a disappearing ink pen, draw a line 2″ inset from the finished edge, and pin as pictured.  Stitch along the line you drew.
      
   8. Now stuff the pillow sham with your second tier pillows you have no interest in sleeping on and enjoy!