Large DIY Tassel Pillow

Evidently I have a thing for tassels lately because they seem to be popping up everywhere in my house!  I started with my tassel drawer pulls, then my vase with curtain tieback tassels, and now this large DIY tassel pillow.  

I added this body pillow to our bed a few months ago because I liked the simplicity of having one large pillow vs. several smaller ones.  There was only one problem with it, there aren't any cute cases for it.  Most of the ones I found were either flimsy or furry.  I guess since it's meant to be slept with, the cases need to be comfortable.  So when I can't find what I'm looking for I DIY it!

I've already made one DIY pillow cover for it, you can see that here.  But I wanted something with a little more texture for the upcoming season change.  Something about fall just screams texture to me. 

Here is my inspiration pillow.

It's actually a great pillow if you are looking for something a little smaller than mine and it comes in a few different colors.  

I started by picking out the tassel trim and fringe trim from Hobby Lobby.  It's on sale this week too!  I bought 4 yards of each and had some to spare.  I also bought some cream canvas fabric to make the pillow itself.

I cut out the fabric for my pillow and sewed a zipper on one end.  You can also do an envelop closure on the back, whatever you prefer.  I cut my fabric a few inches smaller than a normal body pillow cover because I wanted it to fit snugly and be nice and full.    Then I laid it out on the table and played around with the trim to see how I wanted it laid out.

I thought about just sewing the trim on at this point, but I decided to glue it in place first to help keep things secure.  Trim tends to slide around, at least for me, when I'm sewing it and I didn't want crooked pieces of trim.

You can use any type of fabric glue, this is just what I had on hand.

I laid out a measuring tape at the top of my fabric to make sure I was keeping an equal distance between my trim pieces.  Then I just glued each one in place.  After the glue dried I sewed each one in place as well.  You could probably skip this step, but this pillow tends to get used for a gymnastics mat and pillow fights quite often so I wanted to make sure everything was good and secure. :)

After all the trim was in place, I put the right sides together and sewed around the edges to make the pillow.  If you don't have a sewing machine I think you could create a similar look by using fabric glue to adhere the trim to a premade cover.

I'm really happy with how it turned out and think it adds just the right amount of texture that I was looking for!

I'm planning to switch out the duvet and euro covers with some I have stashed away to create a little more contrast and warmth for the season.  I'll be sharing those changes soon!