Here Kitty, Kitty Pillow Tutorial

Ruby is officially my only girl to sew for and she's always been a girl with a fondness for animals over dolls. When I was planning out the kids' shared room makeover I decided I needed to make them each a pillow that helped define their space and that reflected their interests. Ruby loves to pretend she's a cat so I decided she needed a fun cat pillow for her bed. Note: I've styled it in Smith's bassinet but only because their beds were a mess and I had a baby on my shoulder. Sometimes the easier option wins out.

This project only took me about 40 minutes including shooting the steps. I've included the pdf of the kitty pillow pattern below for you to download and print to use as a template but you could also cut out a variety of animal shapes. 

1. Supplies: You'll need about 1/2 yard of fabric, soft stuffing, yarn or embroidery thread, a tapestry needle for your yarn or an embroidery needle for your thread, access to a printer, straight pins, shears, and a sewing machine. It's possible to hand-stitch this as well. Not shown is a small embroidery hoop. This will make it easier to add your stitched details. 2. Print the pattern and cut your fabric so that you have one cut measuring about 18" wide by 13" tall. Fold it in half as shown above.

3. Cut out your cat template and pin it to your fabric so that the long edge of the template is flush with the fold of your fabric. This will give you a symmetrical cut of fabric when you're done. 4. Unpin your template and unfold your cut of fabric. Use the same template or use your first cut of fabric to cut out a second cat face from the rest of your fabric.

5. I goofed and forgot to add my embroidery before stitching this together. Hoop one of your cat faces and thread your yarn or embroidery thread and add whatever details you'd like. 6. I added simple stitches to create eye lashes and a nose as well as ear details. Once you're done stitching one section, unhoop and then rehoop another section.

7. Once finished, lay your two cat faces together with right sides facing each other (embroidered side facing in) and pin at the edges. 8. Stitch about 1/4" from the edge of your pieces (seam allowance) starting at the top of the head and all the way around until you're a hand's width from where you started. You'll need to leave that open to stuff it. Cut little triangles along your rounded edges that almost touch your hem. This will allow your pillow to round nicely once it's stuffed.

9. Turn it right side out, fill with stuffing, and stitch shut using a blind stitch. Ta-Da!

Ruby already loves it and my mama heart is happy she's happy. 

Download Cat Pillow Pattern

I'm still working on Sebastian's pillow. I'm thinking a big thunderbolt since he's into super heroes and would love a big body-sized pillow to replace the pregnancy pillow that he's claimed as his own. Smith may get a star or swiss cross. We'll see.

Speaking of Smith, I think he needs a round of applause for taking two long naps without needing to be in my arms. It felt really good to do something creative.

-Rachel

 

Comments

[Sofia Garrido]

I think this is a lovely detail that helps defining their space with something that has to do with their personality! The pillow is so cute! :)

Thank you for sharing this!

Sofia
http://framesandhighheels.blogspot.pt/

[Lea]

That is an extremely cute pillow :)

[Lesley]

So sweet to define the kids' spaces....and I love this for Ruby. The black and white with pink is a stunning choice. My grown-up room may just be getting one! xox

[Merci]

Seriously, so creative! Great job!

[ruthie]

Super cute, Rachel. Rowan just looked over my shoulder and said, "I want a kitty head!" So, success!

[Shakti]

This is darling! Now I'm having visions of woodland creature pillows :)

[racheldenbow]

My work here is done!

[Liz]

I saw this cat pillow and automatically new that I needed to be following this blog ;)