Rainbow Pillow - Free Sewing Pattern and Tutorial

This rainbow pillow makes a fun accent for a bedding set, or perhaps a patio couch. Bright and happy but with a streamlined modern design, it adds a fun pop of color to any room.

I’ve had this rainbow pillow idea knocking around in my head for a while, and I finally had time to bring it to life. I’m so happy with how it turned out! I’ve got a free pattern for you below.

The design is pretty simple – just a half circle pillow with rainbow stripe appliques. But the rainbow design really makes this pillow stand out.

You can make it in a classic rainbow palette like I did, or go with a more nontraditional color scheme. Totally your choice. The only problem will be deciding on just one set of 4 colors!

I wanted to give the pillow some dimension so I used boxed sides. The boxed sides do add a little bit of difficulty, especially when having to ease a straight piece of fabric around a curve. So if you want to keep things super simple you could just skip the side bands and just sew the front to the back right sides together.

I used a white home dec weight cotton for my main pillow fabric, but a canvas would also be nice. You’ll need a fabric with plenty of body so use a home dec weight (or heavier) fabric for your main pillow fabric.

For the stripes, you’ll need a fat quarter of each color. You can get by with less fabric for the smaller stripes, but the larger stripes will need the full width of the fat quarter.

Finished dimensions are approximately 19 1/2” wide x 10 1/2“ tall x 2 1/2” deep.

Supplies

1 yard white or cotton home déc weight cotton or canvas

Rainbow stripes – fat quarter for each color. I used red, yellow, green, and blue.

Fusible webbing – I yard

Polyfil Stuffing – 1 20 oz. bag (You will need the entire bag.)

Free Pattern – Rainbow Pillow

All seam allowances ½” unless otherwise noted. Seam allowances are included in the pattern. RST = Right Sides Together

Prep

Cut out the Pillow Front/Back from the home dec weight cotton or canvas. You will also need to cut two strips from this fabric:

1 piece, 3.5” x 20.5”. This will be the Side Strip.

1 piece, 3.5” x 35”. This will be the Bottom Strip

Trace all of the Rainbow Stripe pattern shapes on to the back of your fusible webbing. The pieces are symmetrical so there’s no need to reverse them.

It’s a good idea when tracing shapes that will be cut out from different colors of fabric, to write on each shape which color it should be cut from. Then you can easily see which piece should be fused to which color fabric.

Cut the traced shapes apart, then follow manufacturer’s instructions to fuse each shape to the back of the fabrics. Cut out each shape.

Sew the Rainbow Design

Peel the paper backing from each of the Rainbow Stripes. Arrange them on the Pillow Front, centered horizontally along the bottom.

Follow manufacturer’s instructions to fuse the shapes down. Top stitch close to the edge to secure.

I was feeling kind of lazy so I used a medium gray thread to topstitch all of my stripes instead of changing thread colors to match each stripe.

Assemble the Pillow

Pin the Side Strip (3.5” x 35”) around the curved edge of the Pillow Back, RST.

The outside edge of the Pillow Back is longer than the Side Strip so you’ll need to ease it in. Mark the halfway point on the Side Strip and the Pillow Back. Pin first at the ends and at the middle, then pin at intervals in between. This will help you distribute the extra fabric on the Pillow Back evenly along the Side Strip.

Sew the Strip in place, starting and stopping ½” from the ends.

If you’re having difficulty easing in the extra fabric on the Pillow Back, you can make small slits in the Strip to help stretch it some.

Repeat, this time sewing the other side of the Side Strip to the Pillow Front, RST.

Now sew the Bottom Strip around the bottom edges of the pillow, RST, and as 4 separate seams (1 for each side of the Bottom Strip) and leaving 3-4” open along the pillow back for a turning hole. Like before, start and stop each seam ½” from the ends. You’ll sew right up to, but not over the seams you sewed in the previous step. When you get close to the ends, make sure that you move all the bulk from the rest of the pillow out of the way of your presser foot.