DIY Neck Pillow

As Butterfly so kindly reminded me the other day, my week off has expired and it's time to stop moping and get back down to business.  I am, however, going to modify my original statement when I started this blog and instead of doing a post everyday I am only going to do two a week.  I will try to publish one on Monday and one on Thursday.  This will both give me some much needed time for myself to heal as well as give me more time should the post need to be completed over multiple days.  For instance I am looking forward to doing a post soon on how to make your own platform bed.

For today I am going to let Butterfly inspire you as much as she inspires me and create a tutorial for you all to follow on how she created her very own neck pillow for grandpa.  The first one she made was a little too narrow around and so she went all out this time and even made a pattern, using the thickness of a water bottle as a template.

DIY Neck Pillow by Butterfly

Step 1:  First you need to pick out some fabric and stuffing for the neck pillow.  Butterfly used a cotton fabric that would be cool enough for grandpa to use while he is sleeping and a nice thick quilting batting for stuffing to give it some extra support.  Think about what function you want for your neck pillow when deciding on fabric and stuffing.  Do you want the fabric to be soft? stretchy? cool?  Do you want the pillow to be fluffy? hard? soft? etc.

I think we ended up getting a half yard of fabric and had extra left to spare.


Step 2:  Next you need to know how thick around and how big you want your neck pillow to be.  For grandpa we needed it to be about the same thickness as a water bottle, therefore Butterfly used this as a template for her pattern and estimated about how large she wanted the pillow to be.

Step 3:  Draw up your pattern.

I must say I am amazed at how well Butterfly did this, all on her very own.  She basically figured out the components of a good pattern by looking at a pattern she recently got for making stuffed animals.  She even marked "cut 2 of fabric" in three languages on the pattern as well as some notches to make sure her seams were lined up.  I'm super proud of her.

Anyway, to make the pattern she taped four sheets of paper together and drew a basic outline of the shape of the neck pillow.  She then wrapped the pattern around the water bottle to check the size.  As the template is just half of the pillow, the pattern needed to wrap around half of the water bottle.  Once this was completed she drew another line around the outside of the pattern to account for seam allowance.

Note:  I saw a cool thing for this on Pinterest.  Just tape two pencils together, put one point on the pattern line and then trace.  The second pencil will then mark a line exactly 5/8" around for seam allowance.

Step 4:  Once you are satisfied that your pattern is good to go, pin it to your fabric.  I recommend folding the fabric in half so that you only have to cut it out once to make two pieces.  Once it is pinned cut out around the pattern (you only need to do this once if the fabric is folded in half).  These will be the front and back to your neck pillow.

Step 5:  Putting the right sides together (i.e. the face of the fabric you want to be on the inside is facing out) stitch along the outside edges leaving a small space about three finger widths open to allow for turning and stuffing of the neck pillow.

Step 6:  Turn your pillow right side out through the hole you left in the seam.  Use your stuffing to stuff the pillow the desired amount.  Then use a ladder stitch, or as Butterfly did just sew it closed on the outside, to sew the opening closed.


Et Voila! you have a most amazing neck pillow in no time at all.  I think she finished it up in one day.  If only I could be so amazing.  Wish me luck.