Olive Green Velvet Pillow Covers with Flange Edge, 18 Inch, Set of 2

These are two 18 inch square velvet pillow covers in olive green, sold without inserts, for anyone who wants to shift the color of a room without replacing anything in it. Velvet is the useful fabric here for a specific reason: the pile catches light differently depending on the angle, so a solid color reads as several tones across a single cushion rather than as a flat block. That is what keeps a plain square from looking like a flat felt cutout on a sofa.

The covers are finished with a flange edge, a flat border sewn around the perimeter, which gives the pillow a defined outline and a made-to-order look rather than the puffed pillowcase shape of a plain seam. Closure is an invisible zipper, so nothing interrupts the face of the cushion. They take standard 18 by 18 inch inserts, and reviewers report they also accept a 20 by 20 insert if you want a fuller, overstuffed shape.

Care is a cold gentle machine wash, tumble dry low or hang. Buyers rate them 4.6 stars across 10,537 reviews, and the specific things that come up in that feedback are that the stitching is clean, the zipper is sturdy rather than flimsy, and the fabric reads as more expensive than it is. Olive is among the tones designers are pointing to for autumn interiors, and it does the useful trick of warming up both grey and navy upholstery.