Today’s contributor is Jill from Snugglebug University. All posts written by Jill for Make It and Love It can be found HERE.
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Hi, it’s Jill from Snugglebug University. Today I’m going to show you how to an easy unicorn pillow!
Are your kids unicorn obsessed these days? Mine sure are. We even had to make my daughter into a unicorn for crazy hair day at school a couple of months ago. We made her a unicorn headband and she LOVED it!
My younger daughter has been begging for a unicorn pillow for her bed ever since we made over her sister’s half of the room a couple of months ago. I’ve been holding off on the project until now because I think that it’s a great project to do with your kids…and there’s no better time than summer for a project like that!
It’s always so difficult to figure out how to entertain kids for the summer. Pillows are one of my favorite sewing projects to do with kids. They aren’t super hard to make, and they come together pretty quickly, too. This tutorial includes both hand sewing and some easy machine sewing, which is great for beginners.
I kind of love how this project is kind of a cross between a stuffed animal and a pillow! It’s the perfect friend to cuddle up with and read a good book!
The pillow itself has two little ears and a horn that extends from the top of the pillow.
I also attached a few felt flowers to dress the unicorn up a bit.
Otherwise, there are felt eyes and an embroidered mouth.
It’s an easy, but satisfying project and I can’t wait to show you how to put it together!
The first thing that you need to do is measure your pillow. Then cut out two rectangles which are exactly that size. There is no need to add seam allowance here because you actually want the pillow form to be tight against the seams. This helps the pillows look extra fluffy.
Next cut out the ears, horn, and eye pieces using the template provided.
Place the horn pieces and ear pieces together, so that the rights sides are facing each other. Then sew along each side of the rectangle, leaving the base open for turning.
Turn right side out. Stuff the horn.
Next, let’s position your eyes on the front of the pillow as shown. I used a simple whip stitch to attach the black part of the eye to the pillow front. (Here is a good resource for embroidery stitches if you need more help.)
I used a back stitch to embroider on the mouth and two little slits for the nose with black embroidery floss. You can put them wherever they look good to you!
Then I used my sewing machine to sew around the white part of the eye.
Position the horn and the ears as shown and baste to the front of the pillow.
Next place the “right side” of the pillow back on top of the pillow front and sew all around the edges, leaving a big region open at the base of the pillow for turning.
Continue by turning right side out.
Next, insert your pillow form and use a blind stitch to sew up the opening.
Finally let’s embellish the unicorn! This is the fun part!
I didn’t really use a pattern for the felt flowers. Instead, I simply cut out different size circles from felt and then cut a spiral out of the circle. On one I made scalloped edges, but the rest I left straight.
I added some ribbon (again by hand), and that finished off my unicorn!
That’s it! Not too hard, right? I’d love to see the variations that you come up with…I think there could be so many unique ways to embellish this pillow with yarn, ribbon, or even fake flowers.
If you liked this project make sure to hop on over to my blog to see how to make this unicorn headband!
Happy sewing everyone!
–Jill
You can follow Jill on her blog (www.snugglebuguniversity.com), on instagram, on pinterest, and on facebook.
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For even more adorable pillow ideas, check out these fun tutorials:
Hi, I’m Ashley—the DIY-enthusiast behind this crazy blog!
