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How To Turn Turkish Towels into No-Sew Pillow Covers!

Liz Cadman
ByLiz CadmanFeb 6, 2019 | 37 comments

Do you have a Turkish Towel collection thanks to subscription boxes? I do! I love these towels because they are lightweight, absorbent, and the patterns are classic. The only downside is that they stay in my linen closet until the warm weather of summer, which feels like such a waste for the rest of the year!

I decided to try out a simple DIY to get a new use out of Turkish Towels. In this post, I'll show you how to turn any Turkish Towel into a pillow cover. (It only takes a minute, no sewing is required, and this would work great with large scarves, too!)

Step 1: Lay your towel on a flat surface and place the pillow you want to cover in the center:

Step 2: Fold each side of the excess fabric over the pillow:

Step 3: Fold the ends of the two fabric sides in a bit so that they taper into a point:

Step 4: Tie those two ends together into a knot:

And you're done! A super-easy, no-cost way to give your living room a quick makeover!

(One other thing to keep in mind - iron or steam the towel before you use it so there are no wrinkles.)

What do you think of this take on Turkish Towels? And please let me know if you find this type of post helpful! If there are other subscription box items you have that you'd love some alternate use ideas for - tell me in the comments!

Liz Cadman
Liz Cadman
Liz is the founder of My Subscription Addiction. She's been hooked on subscription boxes since 2011 thanks to Birchbox, and she now subscribes to over 100 boxes. Her favorites include POPSUGAR Must Have, FabFitFun, and any box that features natural beauty products!

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37 comments

Laura

I love this idea! I just tried it with a gray striped one with white tassels on the end that I have from GlobeIn. The pillow was small enough so when I tied it, I made an extra knot and left the tasseled ends open to the front. Looks right at home in my boho-styled living room. 😉

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Liz Cadman

Yay! So glad to hear you tried it and it worked well for you!

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JustMe

Love this idea! Looks so great on your couch.

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Amy

Clever! What a great idea. Thanks.

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Renee E

Love the post and the great idea

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Starla McCarty

This is great! I’m about to get creative up in here! Thank you Liz. Buckles is of course adorable too, BTW. 🙂

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Liz Cadman

Yay! And thanks for the Buckles love! 🙂

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Anne

For anyone concerned their towels isnt long enough to knot, or doesnt have a deep enough couch to handle the bump of the knot, you can do the same thing but use a few large safety pins to hold the material together in the back. You can even use a pin through the pillow itself to hold everything in place.

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Liz Cadman

Great suggestion – thanks, Anne!

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Kc

Love this! I’m going to try it when I get home. This also is making me consider sewing them to make real pillow cases out of since the cotton is so soft.

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Jody

I enjoyed this post. I will have to think of some ideas.

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AmyM

Love this type of content, Liz! As an almost 5-year sub addict, one thing that has kept me subbing is finding alternative uses for sub box items. For me it increases the value and makes almost everything “useful” in some way.

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Christianne

I completely agree! More “alternative use” posts like this would be amazing!!!

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Esther

Liz, your new posts are great and your pics are so professional !!! Love it !

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Kay

So neat! I think I’m going to try this!

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Anne

I do like this idea for posts. I don’t have Turkish Towels, but still fun to get ideas! I like the idea of a few things like this on MSA since I am not on social media to see what happens with the Instagram account.

I can’t wait to see what happens with all of Eric’s geek box items! 😂. Will his t shirts cover pillows too?

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Kathy

What a great idea! I have several dozen new ones from my insane subscription addiction. I can have multiple of the same pattern in a room. I also use others as bath towels/wraps. I frequently use scarves as table runners. Can’t have too many.

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Cjchav

I use my Turkish towels as a lightweight blanket if I’m a little chilly in spring, summer or fall. My smallest TT is great for a workout!
Scarves are sometimes too heavy (or big) for me to wear out here in So Cal, so I’ve put them at the bottom of guest beds for a layered look and a extra throw for guests.

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Julia

But doesn’t that give a bunched up “hump” to the back of the pillow?

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Nicole Bry

Omg Buckles is so CUTE!!! And this is such a great idea!

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Becky

Which boxes send these out?

I’ve been wanting to try a Turkish towel, and I’ve subscribed to quite a few boxes since October, but haven’t seen any in my boxes. Are they a common spring/summer thing?

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AmyM

If you stick around through spring and more likely, summer, I guarantee you’ll get at least one Turkish towel in a box. You also might want to sign up for swaps. There are always plenty up for grabs.

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Jacki

I need a good use for black eyeliners! And a cute way to display an array of water bottles/cups. I have tervis, bkr, Kate Spade, s’ip, etc.

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Anne

I bet some of the patterns on cups and water bottles would make adorable vases if the colors match a room in your house

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Jacki

That’s a great idea! I tend to pick very colorful drink containers. They wouldn’t blend very well around my house. I’m thinking something like a cup tree for various sized tumblers. Or maybe something like a wine rack

Em

Great idea! I have a stack of about twenty in a rainbow of colors so my couch is about to look like springtime!

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Marina

I love them as pillow covers, only wish I had more to do this!
I actually use mine year round as bath towels, I have one big one for this and two smaller ones I rotate for my hair (I always forget where one is). I have really long hair so they work perfectly, I leave a bit at the end to fold up and then wrap around my neck for a lower version of a hair turban (for some reason I hate having stuff up on my head lol).
If I ever get an extra turkish towel I will for sure try the pillow cover!

Oh, and I would love to see this on other things that subs seem to send in excess (though not sure how that could apply to the two that come to mind – mascara and water bottles)!
P.S. Love seeing Buckles appear <3

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Lisa

What a great idea. I have 6 of them from boxes last year and they are really going to brighten up my home office! Thanks for the tip.

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Bella01

I love this. I never thought of that. Great idea 😃 I was just wondering what to do with mine as they were in a pile folded in my closet. And now I see this. I’m going to do my couch now. Heheee exciting.

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Lori

Omg, I can’t decide which is cuter: Buckles or the pillow covers! Love this!

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Liz Cadman

It’s not always easy to get him to take photos, but since that couch is “his” he’s heavily featured in this post 🙂

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Emma

Love this! Thanks Liz 🙂

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Liz Cadman

Glad to hear it – thanks Emma! 🙂

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Tracey

I would love to see more of these posts! What a great idea! I hope you keep posting them here because I’m not a fan of Instagram and FB. Thanks!