Sew a small pillow - PEP BB textile.sand.pillow

I sewed a pillow!
I began with a piece of 100% cotton fabric and some cotton thread from Hobby Lobby, and a basket full of wool from my sheep I had scoured and carded. I wanted the finished pillow to be 20 x 27 inches, so cut the fabric into two rectangles 21" x 28" to give me a half-inch seam allowance. I used a sewing machine to zig-zag stitch almost all the way around my stacked rectangles, leaving a gap for stuffing. I stuffed the pillow by lining up the rolled batts parallel, about four layers, hoping this arrangement would keep the pillow firm and even for a good while. Lastly, I closed the gap with what the internet tutorial called an invisible stitch, but that I knew from knitting as a mattress stitch. There was a bit of gathering on one side from my uneven hand-stitching, but I do not think it too noticeable and am very pleased with the overall results.

Invisible stitch tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbE5hXt27uU

I make a small pillow from an old cotton sheet and corn husks. I'm using it right now and it's very comfortable.

In this project, you will make a small pillowcase.

Minimum Requirements:
 - Must be stuffed with a natural material: bedstraw, straw, feathers or wool
 - Fabric must be a natural material (hemp, cotton, wool, linen, silk, etc)
 - Be at least 10x10 inches
 - It can be machine sewn, as you can probably already sew by hand if you can use a sewing machine!

To document completion of the BB, provide proof of the following as pics or video (< 2 min):
 -  Show your fabric
 -  Show your pillow in progress
 -  Show stuffing your pillow
 -  Show your completed pillow!  

I used cloth I had reclaimed from my son’s old cotton rugby jersey. It’s soft and strong and the right size for this project. I used two panels which I cut into rectangles. I did most of the sewing with my sewing machine and finished had stitching after stuffing.

I struggled to find a natural stuffing but with help from Permies ended up ordering buckwheat husks from White Lotus Home to fill the pillow.

Here are my pictures showing the final pillow which measured approximately 12x14 inches.

My partner has an old cotton t-shirt from his high school football days that he doesn't fit into anymore, but is too sentimental to him to let me turn it into rags. So I made it into a pillow for him. I stuffed it with "wool" from my Newfoundland dog - it's not in the BB description but it is 100% natural (I brushed it off my dog and washed it myself!) so I hope it counts. The finished pillow is rectangular and about 12" from seam to seam on the short side.

Submission for small pillow bb.
I made this much harder on myself than I needed to. I read a comment on the first page of comments suggesting a pillow could be found so long as the diameter was at least 12.7 inches. Looking at the fabric I had leftover from the quilted pillowcase and twin quilt bbs, I figured a round pillow would be the best use of the fabric I had, and would be a fun addition to the matching set. I hand pieced the fabric together from the cotton cabbage to make the faces and the sides of the pillow, and continued hand sewing the whole thing with back stitching. Carded sheep wool until I had enough rolls to stuff, then used a ladder stitch to close it up. This is a firm, cushy pillow and it looks so cute on the bed, imo. It’s nearly 13 inches in diameter, or 32.5 centimeters.

I already have a lot of pillows, so I decided to use this pillow as a cat bed. The fabric is an old shirt I got in middle school that I have no intention of ever wearing again. I also used some feed hay for stuffing, I had it because that's the substrate for my oyster mushrooms.

The aforementioned shirt


Here I am sewing it after turning it inside out. I did not cut the shirt up, but I did sew it smaller, I.e thinner sides and a shorter height(length?) so I still ended up sewing four sides.


After sewing all the sides and adding some feed hay.


Sewing up the stuffing gap


The final size, 2" tall, by 15" wide and 21" long.


Kitty seal of approval? Or maybe they're waiting for me to put the camera away...

This was kind of an experiment and I’m so pleased with how it turned out! I had a bowl of stuffing from old homemade heating pads lying around—flax seeds and rice. But I wanted the pillow to still feel soft and fluffy. So I made a little pocket out of organic cotton batting (came with my house!) and quilted the weightier materials inside before stuffing the whole package into my pillow. It is the coziest thing.

To document completion of the BB, provide proof of the following as pics or video (< 2 min):
 -  Show your fabric
 -  Show your pillow in progress
 -  Show stuffing your pillow
 -  Show your completed pillow!

So I made a pillow stuffed with cattails!

Harvesting the cat tails:



Starting materials are a merino wool shirt, cotton print material from old valence covers, and ribbon from my wedding bouquet:



Pillow in progress:



Stuffing the pillow. SUPER MESSY! I would put the whole cattail in the pillow, then pull the fluff off the stem inside the pillow. I would highly recommend doing this outside but hey it was 10pm and -20C! But it makes the softest filling!



Finished pillow!