Easy No Sew Fall Pillow Ideas

I'm sharing two different no-sew Fall pillow ideas that make a dramatic statement in black and white, perfect for all you neutral lovers!

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Hi friend and welcome! I'm excited to share these easy, no-sew fall pillows with you today! I'm joining an inspiring group of bloggers to share ideas and inspiration all week for our Fall Ideas Tour. Make sure you read through to the end where you'll find all the links!

This year, I decided to keep my fall decor simple. I'm in the process of purging a whole lot of stuff, and I didn't even make it up to the attic to bring down the fall bins of decor. I was craving a calmer, clutter-free home.

But that doesn't mean my home doesn't have any fall decor! It's just simple and neutral, like the DIY drop cloth pumpkins that I shared last week.

Fall DIY Pillows

Part of clearing the clutter means that I'm being very conscious about what I bring INto my home. You probably know I'm a bit of a pillow addict, and one of my tricks to keeping the sheer number of pillows I own under control is pillow covers. Rather than purchasing new inserts, I simply recycle the covers I own for the seasons.

Which leads me to these easy, no-sew fall pillow covers that I want to share today.

I made two different types of pillows, the reason being that not everyone owns a die cut machine. You can make the pumpkin pillow by simply saving and printing a pumpkin design you find online. Let's make that one first. The very cool thing about both of my pillow ideas is that they're temporary! They are lightly attached to the pillow cover with buttons, but the entire design is removable! I'll show you what I mean as we get into the tutorial.

How to Make a No-Sew Fabric Pumpkin Pillow

How cute is this black and white houndstooth pumpkin pillow? I found the fabric recently on massive clearance, and bought several yards because I think I'll recover my dining room chairs. However, a little piece for this pillow was a must! Here's what you'll need to make this pillow.

Supplies

neutral pillow cover
about 1/4 yard of heavy weight fabric (like upholstery fabric)
about 1/4 yard of white cotton batting (I used the brand warm and natural)
pinking shears (or really sharp fabric scissors)
straight pins
lighter (optional) or fray check
12" square piece of card stock
fabric glue
3 black buttons
needle and thread

Create your pattern

I used my Silhouette machine to cut out a pumpkin pattern onto card stock. Like I said above, if you don't own a die cut machine, you can copy and print pumpkin clip art from Google images. There are several to choose from at this site, just please make sure you're using the free version!

Pin pattern to fabric and cut

Once you have your pattern cut out, pin the pieces to your fabric of choice and cut. Not a fan of neutral or black and white for fall? Use any fabric you want! Make your pillows suit your style!

Fray check or lighter

If you have fray check, go ahead and apply that lightly to all cut edges. If you don't have fray check, you can achieve similar results with a lighter. PLEASE PROCEED CAUTIOUSLY if you choose this step! Keep the flame moving along the fabric edges at all times. You can read more about using a lighter to melt and seal edges on this short video I made. The heavy-weight fabric won't curl up like the satin did, but the loose edges will be sealed. I also used this technique to remove the fuzzies when I made my DIY bee skeps. But remember, be careful and smart! Don't burn your house down!!!!!!!

Glue pumpkin pieces to backing fabric

Lay out the pumpkin pieces onto a piece of white felt or natural cotton batting. I love this fabric for its softness! Glue the pieces one by one using a good quality fabric adhesive.

Cut out design

Give the fabric glue time to dry and then use sharp fabric scissors to cut out around the whole pumpkin, leaving about 1/4" of white edge.

Stitch to pillow cover

I told you this was a no-sew pillow, and it is...but you do need to know how to sew a button!! Unzip the pillow cover, lay the design where you want it, using a couple pins to keep it in place. Then attach the pumpkin design to the pillow cover with a couple strategically placed buttons. Just stitch them on with black thread!

How brilliant is that? 💡 Now when fall is over, I can simply snip the threads holding the buttons in place and the design is completely removable! Meaning I can use the cover for another design!

You would never know from looking at it that this design is removable! The white edging looks like piping!

I promised you TWO FALL pillows, and here is the next one.

Heat transfer fall pillow

You will need both a Silhouette or Cricut machine, as well as a heat press for this next pillow.

Supplies

neutral pillow cover
about 1/4 yard of white felt or natural cotton batting
black heat transfer vinyl
Silhouette or Cricut
heat press (I have the Cricut easy press and it's perfect!)
heat press mat (or towel)
4 black buttons
needle and thread
pinking shears (or very sharp fabric scissors)

This design is also removable, held in place just with the black buttons.

Create and cut out design
I used my Silhouette machine to create my design, "hello autumn" to the exact size I wanted it to be based on the size I cut my cotton batting. Then I reversed the image and cut it out onto black heat transfer material.

Prepare backing fabric

I cut my white natural cotton batting fabric to the size I wanted with pinking shears. I ironed it well with my heat press.

Iron on design

I got the Cricut Easy Press for Christmas last year, and while I haven't used it a lot, it's so easy to make my own t-shirts and add designs to any fabric! I just plug it in and heat it up, set my design in place, and press it until the timer goes off.

Then I gently peeled the plastic backing away to reveal my design. Easy peasy!

apply heat transfer design with heat press

Stitch to pillow cover

The last step was to center the white cotton on my pillow cover and stitch a button in each corner to keep the design in place.

Both of these pillows were very easy to make, and I love how custom they look! But I think the BEST part is that each of the designs is removable! Perfect for commitment-phobes and pillow addicts like me! 😊

two neutral fall DIY pillows in black and white

I hope you're inspired!!! Please do let me know if you decide to make this project, I'd love to cheer you on and answer any questions you may have along the way!