Tombstone Throw Pillows

Hey there ghouls and creeps! It’s another Sunday, which means another creepy craft for you to get your hands on and enjoy! These tombstone throw pillows are a great addition to any ghoul’s home decor and as couch accents. You may recognize the quotes from the Beetlejuice (one of my favorite movies). I selected colors we often incorporate into our decor to determine the letter and piping colors. This could easily be changed to match your decor and/or prefrences! Let’s get started!

I rated the Tombstone Throw Pillows as being moderately challenging to create. Some of the skills entailed in creating your own set of tombstone pillows include; installing a zipper, sewing a seam around a corner, satin stitching applique edges and making your own piping. You’ll also learn how to make your own custom pillow form! Don’t worry if you’re spooked! If you’re looking for a challenge and have a couple sewing projects under your belt, this would be a great project to try out some new skills!

Step 1: Cut Out your Pieces: Using the PDF below, cut out your pieces for your tombstone pillows. Follow the instructions notated on the patterns to determine how many of each piece from which fabric to cut. Cut piping cotton to 1 1/4″X 88″ on the bias. I cut material on the bias by taking a corner of my fabric and folding it up to be parallel with the salvage. This creates the 45-degree angle needed between the warp and weft of the fabric when cutting parallel with the fold created. Each tombstone side measures 44″ around the top exempting the bottom.

Cut two zipper panels measuring 13 1/4″X 2 1/4″ from your gray Kona.

Cut side panel measuring 44 1/2″X 3 1/5″ for the cover and for the pillow insert. You may find that you’ll have to seam strips together to make one continuous strip to get to the needed lengths.

*Important info: The measurements and piece counts provided above for the piping, zipper panels, and side are for one singular tombstone. If you are wanting to make two tombstone pillows, simply double the number of pieces being cut!

Step 2: Applying Appliques: Begin by folding tombstone pieces in half both ways and press to create a crease. These lines will serve as a reference for your letter placement. Remove paper backing off Heat n’ Bond from the back of each letter. Situate letters on your tombstone front so that they are straight, evenly spaced, and centered.

Pro-tip: Use a transparent ruler to assist with letter positioning! Once you are happy with where your letters are located, press them with an iron to fuse in place. Be careful to not move the iron around because this may shift your letters from their original position.

After your letters have been thoroughly fused to your tombstone front, iron fusible interfacing to the backside of the front. The fusible interfacing is so that your tombstone front won’t pucker when stitching the satin stitching around the text edges.

Read your sewing machine user guide if necessary to set your machine to the appropriate settings to execute a satin stitch. This may also require a presser foot change. Pro-tip: Whenever I switch to an alternative stitch setting, I’ll first test the stitch on a scrap piece of material just to get my settings the way I want them.

Satin stitching can be a little tricky, making sure to maintain an even stitch with no irregular gaps. General rule of thumb though, if you’re going around a shape counterclockwise pivot the foot with the needle lowered in the background material. If you are going around a shape clockwise, pivot the foot with the needle lowered in the applique.

This process can be a little time intensive, but totally worth it! By finishing the edges of your appliques you’ll be able to wash and use your tombstone pillows without the edges eventually fraying and possibly detaching from the pillow front.

Step 3: Attaching Piping: Before attaching the piping to your pillow, you may need to switch up your presser foot to be able to shift your needle position to the far left. This is so you can have the stitch line land right up against the edge of the cotton cord inside the bias.

You may find that when you go to attach your piping, that you prefer to pin your piping with the cotton bias before stitching it to the tombstone edge. As a way to save time, I’ll often not use pins unless I really need them. Like to ease a seam or keep seams in a specific place. Have the cotton cord filler extend about a 1/2″ past the bottom edge just in case you lose some length as you sew. Pro-tip: As a way to keep the cotton cord from untwisting I’ll wrap my cord ends with Scotch tape!

As I sewed the piping to the front and back panels of each tombstone, I would wrap the bias around the cord, match the bias edges, and then sew the piping to the tombstone panel with a 3/8″ seam allowance. With this method, you’ll sew a few inches at a time and then stop to arrange your cord and cotton bias cover as you make your way around.

Once you get to the end, cut the cotton cord a 1/2″ past the edge of the bottom. Repeat these steps for all front and back tombstone panels.

Step 4: Making Pillow Bottom and Sides: The bottom of the tombstone has a centered zipper so that the pillow insert can periodically be removed to clean the pillow cover. A centered zipper is when the zipper teeth are centered under a seam opening so that equal amounts of fabric are on both sides of the zipper.

Begin by seaming together two bottom panels along the 13 1/4″ sides with a 1/2″ seam allowance. Reinforce the ends of the seam (about 1/2″ in on both ends) by backstitching. Increase stitch length to about a 4 to baste the material together.

Because my zippers measured longer than 12 1/8″ I had to shorten them. This process isn’t as challenging as you may initially think! Measure out 12 1/8″ along the zipper teeth, starting at the zipper stop at the top of the zipper. Stick a pin where you need to stitch your new zipper stop at the bottom.

Taking a hand sewing needle, tie both ends of the thread together so that every stitch will have two threads. Come up through the back of the zipper tape on one side of the zipper teeth. Then go back through the zipper tape on the other side of the teeth so that the thread is going over the teeth. Repeat these steps around four or five times, and then tie off your stitching by knotting the thread.

Pin the zipper to the sides of the seam allowance., making sure that each end of the zipper is about 5/8″ in from the ends of the bottom panel.

Hand baste the zipper tape to the sides of the seam allowance so that the zipper stays in place without pins.

Flip the bottom panel over right side up, and stitch a rectangle around your zipper. I started my topstitching at one end of the zipper (being careful to not break my needle on the zipper stops). I then used a gap on my presser foot as a reference for how far my stitching should be from the seam/center of the zipper.

You will have to move the slider to avoid having the presser foot running into it. Pro-tip: When you get to the end of the zipper and pivot toward the seam, count the number of stitches it takes to the seam center. You can then use this number to count your stitches on the other side of the seam so that your stitches are evenly placed on both sides of the zipper opening!

Once you’ve sewn all the way around the zipper, you can now remove the basting over the zipper to open up the seam to the zipper!

Seam together any side panel pieces so that they measure the full 44 1/2″. Then seam together the side ends to the bottom panel ends with a 1/2″ seam allowance.

Step 5: Assembling Tombstones: Before attaching the side and bottom to the tombstone front(s) and back(s), make marks 3/8″ from the bottom corners on the sides.

Pin the seams where the bottom joins the sides at these marks.

I then started my seam somewhere along the right side of the tombstone front or back and began sewing toward to bottom corners. When you get near the bottom use the handwheel to have the needle land exactly 3/8″ from the bottom edge.

Before pivoting the presser foot, take shears and make a little cut perpendicular to the needle about 1/8″ away.

Pivot the presser foot to be parallel with the bottom and twist the bottom panel to line up with the bottom edge.

Backstitch at the corner to reinforce the corner and the piping.

Sew the length of the bottom and stop 3/8″ from the side edge. Make another snip in the bottom panel and pivot the presser foot and side to align with the tombstone side. Make sure bottom and side seam are matching with the 3/8″ mark made on the side. *Disclaimer: You may notice that I have both corners seamed. I did this to be able to ease the excess in the bottom panel to the bottom of the tombstone. The measurements provided at the top should eliminate this issue!

Continue sewing the side panel around the top of the tombstone until you reach the other end of the stitch line. Repeat these steps to attach the other tombstone panel. Congrats you have finished your tombstone cover(s)!

Step 6: Making Pillow Insert: The insert assembly should be a little easier because the side and bottom are one continuous strip (no seam matching required!). Just seam the short ends together before beginning to sew the side/bottom to the tombstone panels. Using the same techniques to assemble the cover, sew together the muslin insert pieces.

The one difference is that you will want a roughly 4″ opening between one of the tombstone panel sides and the side panel to turn and fill your pillow form.

Once your insert has been assembled, flip it right side out. Fill the insert with roughly 15oz of Poly-Fil.

Pin the opening of the insert closed and slipstitch the sides of the opening together. Repeat these steps if you are making two tombstone pillows.

Take your pillow inserts and negotiate them into your pillow covers. Place them on your couch or bed and enjoy!

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Ready for your next project? Here are some tutorials on the blog I think you’ll like! Frame Flip tutorial: https://britnijade.com/frame-flip/, Macrame Wall Hanging: https://britnijade.com/macrame-wall-hanging-w-bones/, or the Spider Web Macrame: https://britnijade.com/spider-web-macrame/. Enjoy!