Euro Pillow Sham Tutorial

The past several weeks I have been so busy! I have been working on several great projects. I have so many wonderful things that I’m going to share with you!
First is a tutorial is for European pillow shams. These shams are quick and super easy.

I’m making a sham to fit a 26 x 26 Euro pillow but you can adapt this to other sizes as well. The basic instructions are the same, just adjust the sizes. I’m keeping this sham very simple, I’m not using cording or welt. I’m using 3 pieces of fabric.
I added 2 inches to the width and 2 inches to the length of my pillow size.

Since my pillow is 26 x 26, my front piece of fabric will be cut 28 x 28. That gives me an inch for my seam all the way around.

*A little trick when cutting a square, cut two sides then fold the fabric down (it will look like a triangle.) then cut the other two sizes using the edges as a guide

For the back of my pillow I’m cutting 2 pieces. 1 piece is 16 x 28 and the other piece will be 21 x 28. (I’m folding the excess over so the height is not critical.)

I want to use buttons to open and close my sham. This could be the front if the sham if you want to use decorative buttons. You could also do a monogram above the buttons for a custom look.

Once all three pieces are cut, fold over the top and bottom pieces and press them.
If I could only give you one sewing tip for making a professional looking product, it would be ironing. When you take the time to press your seams it makes all the difference! It can take it from looking homemade to crisp and custom!

Now you can hem the fold on the back two pieces. (I did not hem mine because I am sewing on buttons on one side and button holes on the other so this will hold it together and I get to skip a step.)

Now, you’re ready for the buttons. Decide the placement of the buttons. Mark the placement for the buttons and button holes. I used simple round buttons and placed them about every 4 inches.