How to Make Personalized Sports Pillows

Choose the fabric and thread that matches your team colors.

Making pillows is a fun and easy way to decorate and personalize your living space. Pillows are an easy craft to make and preparation time is short. Colors, textures, accents and embroidery are some ways to enhance your pillow craft. Make one pillow or a set of pillows for an inexpensive way to add the finishing touch to a room. Find the perfect stuffing for how you intend to use your pillow. Sleeping or cuddling with your pillow calls for a softer stuffing than using your pillow as the focal point of your room. Sports pillows are a great way to spruce up your son's room or your husband's man cave.

Things You'll Need

• Fabric: 1/2-yard for each pillow
• Thread: 1 small spool
• Stuffing or pillow form (14")
• Straight Pins
• Embroidery Hoop
• Copy Paper/Printer
• Sewing Machine
• Ruler
• Scissors
• Needle
• Disappearing Ink/Fabric Marking Pen
• Embroidery Needle
• Embroidery Thread: DMC Rayon Floss 1 to 2 skeins

Instructions

1. Buy materials from a fabric store. Choosing your own materials can be a fun part of the project and is another way to personalize your pillow. Pick any type of fabric for your pillow except fabrics that stretch, like knit, because when stuffing your pillow, you want a fabric that does not lose its shape. You also will need to purchase thread to match your fabric and embroidery thread, or skeins, called DMC rayon floss. Purchase the color you want for the words or design you will use to personalize your pillow.

2. 

   Cut our your fabric in a 15" square.

   Choose the perfect stuffing, as this makes all the difference in your pillow craft. The most used stuffing is polyester fiber stuffing, which is basically made of plastic. Down filling makes a softer pillow but can cause allergy problems. A great alternative to down filling is synthetic down stuffing, which grants the same softness without the risk of an allergic reaction. You can buy the stuffing in a bag and stuff the pillow yourself, or buy a pillow form, which is already stuffed and ready to insert into your fabric.

3. Cut your fabric in a 15 inch square. Your finished product will be 14 inches, so you are leaving one inch for your seam. Find your design on the computer, or if your want to put your name on your pillow, type your name in your Word program, choose the font size and style you want and print it out. Take your pillow top and trace your design or name onto your fabric using a fabric marking pen (disappearing ink). Put your fabric in a wooden embroidery hoop. Stretching the fabric taut, and with a needle threaded with DMC rayon floss, embroider your design or name. This may take some time.

4. Match right sides and edges of fabric together, and sew all the way around the pillow, leaving an opening to insert the pillow stuffing. Stuff your pillow and hand stitch the opening closed.

References

• Lovetosew.com: How to sew a pillow
• Varioustypes.com: Pillow Stuffing