How to DIY a grain sack pillow

Learn how to make a DIY grain sack pillow cover using drop cloth and fabric paint. This is an easy project and very budget friendly! 

DIY Grain Sack Pillow Supplies

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These DIY grain sack pillows will add farmhouse style to any home. It’ll give that vintage look without having to use real grain sack.

Below you can find a list of supplies needed to make your own beautiful grain sack pillows!

• drop cloth fabric
• fabric paint
• sewing machine
• painter’s tape
• foam brush
• polystuf filling (or a pillow insert)

How to DIY a Grain Sack Pillow

You can buy drop cloth from many places but if you plan to bleach the drop cloth, you want to make sure the fabric is 100% cotton, like these HERE.

I decided to bleach my drop cloth because I plan to make more diy projects with it and want it to match my other home decor but this is an optional step.

If you decide to bleach your drop cloth, you can find a short video on how to HERE.

I wanted a longer sized pillow to be the focal point of my bed but you could easily adjust the size of this DIY grain sack pillow for a decorative size pillow to go with your home decor style.

Instructions:

MEASURE AND CUT YOUR FABRIC

Start by measuring your drop cloth to your preferred pillow size. If you are going for the same size pillow I did, you will start by cutting 2 panels of your drop cloth fabric to 35″ by 15″ each.

Surprisingly, Im not much of a planner when it comes to my diy projects, they usually start with an idea and end with the finished project shortly after. So, I just measured my drop cloth to what looked to be about the size I wanted since I knew I would stuff the pillow with polyfil anyway, that I didn’t need to follow the measurements of a pillow cover.

sewing the two sides together

Once you have your fabric cut, the next step will be to sew the pillow together.

This is a very beginner friendly sewing project! It is nothing more than sewing 4 straight lines. I am no sewing expert-I am actually just a beginner myself.

If you don’t know how to sew, don’t feel left out! You could buy a simple pillow cover to use for this from hobby lobby or even find one at your local thrift store.

First thing, you want to lay your fabric with the right sides together (if you have a right or wrong side, which drop cloth does not), I sewed together the 2 long ends and the short bottom end, essentially making a large U shape. See example below.

I didn’t worry about finishing my seams or cleaning them up, because we are going to flip the fabric inside out once we are finished sewing the U shape.

Flipping your fabric inside out

You will flip your fabric inside out the same way you would a shirt. This leaves your pillow cover seamless.

Painting your grain sack pillow

First thing, we will start with by using painters tape to make our grain sack stripes.

Once you have taped down the stripes of your choice, we will paint them with the fabric paint.

TIPS:

1. Be sure to place something underneath your fabric to prevent paint bleed through. You could use cardboard. This will also give you a flat surface to paint on.
2. Be sure to run your finger up and down the tape lines to ensure your paint will not seep underneath.

Using your foam brush, dab the fabric paint into that line, this doesn’t have to be perfectly filled in, a little paint will do. You are hoping to create a time worn paint job anyhow.

Remove your painters tape immediately after painting your stripes. Don’t be scared! Just pull it off.

You could stop at one stripe, but why do that when you could have three?

I decided I wanted more stripes so after my first stripe dried, I taped off some more stripes and painted. You could even do one big stripe down the middle of the pillow.

Now let’s fill our pillow

We are on our last step!

Using polyfil and the opened end of the pillow, you will stuff the polyfil until your desired fluff.

After filling your pillow, you will need to sew it shut.

Once it was filled to my liking I simply continued the stitch along the top of my pillow to close up the square.

That’s it! That was really all there was to it.

Now that you’ve made your pillow, lets decorate with it!

Decorating with DIY grain sack pillows

What I love about these DIY grain sack pillows is that they’re relatively quick and easy to create and you can use them all over the house.

From the chairs in your dining room, or a throw pillow on the couch in your living room, your breakfast nook, or even on your front porch – the design is simple yet impactful.

The grain sack designs are truly endless, I plan to make lots of new project using this authentic grain sack method.

Next time, I might even try to do a DIY no sew grain sack fabric pillow (check back in a couple weeks to see) using different designs that will still give me that grain sack look.

If you happen to have a stash of grain sacks, this would be a great way to use them You could try different colours, such as a blue stripe or a red stripe.

I hope you’ll give these simple DIY faux grain sack pillows a try! I would love to hear if you do. Don’t forget to pin these pillows for later.

PIN IT