Makin’ it: A toddler pillow case

Does a toddler need a pillow? I don’t know the medical answer to that, but a special kid-sized pillow, decked out with a favorite pattern or color scheme, can be used as a tool for transitioning to a big kid bed, or maybe as a reward for staying in one’s crib or bed all night long.

I bought my kids toddler pillows because they are half the size of adult pillows. I have a small head myself, and now that I write that out, wonder if I should be using one for my own sleeping needs. I bought them on One Step Ahead for about $15 along with a plain pillow case for $6 or $8 more dollars. You can find one on amazon for about $15 or steal an airplane pillow.

After reading a post about a Fancy Nancy pillow case on Sew Fearless, I went to the fabric store and bought Fancy Nancy-themed flannel and made one for Scarlett. It took about ten minutes.

A pillowcase is one of the easiest things there is to sew, and if your client is about two years old, all he or she will care about is the print on the pillowcase. Don’t worry about thread color or straight seams.

I made the one pictured in this tutorial with satin binding on the edge, but you can definitely skip that and do a simple hem on the opening of the pillow case.

This project consists of four straight lines to sew.

What you need besides a sewing machine and someone who knows how to use it:

• 1/2 yard of fabric
• scissors
• thread
• (optional) satin blanket binding

Cut the fabric to a rectangle of about 16 inches wide by 42 inches long. Lay your pillow in this position before cutting to make sure that you’ll have enough room to slide the pillow in, and still have the satin edging go beyond the pillow once it’s inside. My pillow was 12″x18″. Feel free to complain in the comments if I am not being specific enough.

Pin the satin binding to each short edge of your long rectangle and sew in place. You are halfway done.

Now fold the long rectangle in half, right sides of the fabric together. As soon as you sew the sides, you’ll have a finished inside-out pillow case.

Done? Clip the loose threads that are dangling all over.

Turn inside out, place pillow inside, and put it on a tiny bed.

Did that seem too hard? We think you can do it, but buying one is fine, too!

This post is part of our weekly series of handmade projects. Not into sewing? Look at the Makin’ It page for other crafty ideas.