No-Sew Throw Pillow Designs

Transform a plain throw pillow into a stand out room feature without picking up a needle. From stamps to felt silhouettes, these personal touches will make all the difference.

By Rachael Ray Every Day

March 01, 2013

No Sewing Needed

It's the best-case scenario: tons of creative pillow ideas that don't include threading a single needle. Check out our ideas and bonus downloadable silhouette templates.

Floral Arrangement

You'll need: scissors, jersey fabric in solid colors or patterns that complement your case, felt, fabric glue, hot glue

1. Cut the fabric into long strips, about 3-by-24 inches. Then, cut the same number of circles (about 3 inches in diameter) out of the felt. You'll need one strip and one circle per flower.
2. Fold each fabric strip in half lengthwise and dot fabric glue along the fold, leaving the edges free.
3. Starting at the center of one felt circle, begin gluing your strips (open edges up) into a loose spiral, starting at one end of the strip and working your way out to the edge of the circle. As you create the spiral, secure the folded edge with hot glue. Once the glue dries, trim any visible felt from the circle underneath the flower and fan out your fabric to create ruffles. Repeat to make each flower.
4. Coat the undersides of the flowers in fabric glue and stick them to your pillow cover in a cluster. Let dry.

Stamp Act

You'll need: textile paints (for bold hues) or stamp pads (for subtler ones), cardboard, wine corks, paper towels, paintbrush

1. Choose textile paint or stamp-ink colors that will stand out on your pillow case. Remove the case and slide a piece of cardboard inside to keep the paint from seeping through.
2. Dip your corks into the colors and dab off excess paint on a paper towel. Dot the corks on the fabric in any pattern -- free-form, zigzags or rows. For smaller dots, use clean pencil erasers. (If any of the dots have bare patches, you can use a paintbrush to touch them up.) Let the paint dry.

Love Note

You'll need: any image you want to display, like an old love letter or your kid's artwork, photo-transfer paper (we recommend Avery Dark Fabric Transfer, $16.50, at Staples stores), scissors

1. Scan your image if it's not already on your computer. Print the image onto photo-transfer paper, following the packaging instructions. With photo-transfer paper, you don't have to worry about reversing the image. If you're extra-artsy, scribble words directly on the paper.
2. Trim the image into a shape that fits your pillow. Peel off the back of the photo-transfer paper and center it on the pillow; iron to seal in place, following the packaging instructions.

Flag Salute

You'll need: fabric scraps, scissors, chalk, fabric glue, ribbon

1. Draw triangles onto the fabric scraps, then cut them out.
2. Chalk in the lines that your flags will "hang" from on the pillow, then glue the fabric triangles along the chalk line.
3. Once the flags are completely secure, glue ribbon over the chalk. The thinner the ribbon, the more easily it will curve to the shape of your pillow and the flatter it will lie.

Standout Silhouette

You'll need: wool felt, scissors, fabric glue, black permanent marker or fabric pen

1. Trace a graphic shape onto the felt, then cut it out. Try animals, your initials or your lucky number.
2. Glue the shape onto the center of your pillow and let the glue dry. 3. Create "stitch marks" around the border of your silhouette with the black marker.