Kids Pillow Bed Tutorial

I am sure you've seen pictures of adorable pillow beds with kids laying on them reading or just lounging about on Pinterest and other social media sites. I came across one and decided I needed to try and make one (well really two) for my kids.

I received 2 yards of an oversized version of the white accio from round 31 and decided that I would make a pillow bed. I had to order pillows because I never seem to have enough pillows around here. Thankfully Amazon is a quick click away and ships to my house so I never have to leave in the house during the hot parts of the day.

I didn't have a pattern so I decided I would wing it. I don't typically wing projects and prefer to have a pattern, but I figured it was worth a shot.

First I folded the the fabric in half with the right sides (print side) touching. This gave me fabric 30" by 72" give or take based on the cut. It was perfect for the pillow bed. Since the fabric was folded, there was no reason to sew the back closed, I only needed to sew the top and the bottom closed. Next I clipped/pinned the raw edges along the 72" side for approximately a 1/2" hem. I used my cover stitch to hem this down, securing any serger threads along the way. You can hem in whatever method you prefer.

After that I turned the fabric right side out and laid it flat. I measured how much space i would need for each pillow and used pins to divide up these sections. For the pillows I used, I needed approximately 17 inches of height. I used a cotton jersey fabric so I knew there would be some give/stretch. You'd need to adjust this with a non-stretch or woven fabric. I used my quilting ruler to help keep my line straight. I used the pins as a guide to sew lines to separate each pillow's pocket. I used a regular sewing machine to sew these lines using a tiny zig zag stitch.

You could really use any stitch, even a stretch stitch, as I was using a cotton jersey material, but I opted to use the tiny zig zag stitch. Don't forget to backstitch at both the beginning and the end. I use a serger most often so I usually have to remind myself of this small step.

After sewing, I clipped the extra long threads left when sewing and stuffed the pillow pockets with the pillows. This was an amazingly quick sew and I absolutely low how it turned out. From start to finish, it took maybe an hour or so. The majority of my time was spent clipping the hem and pinning the straight lines.

Both of my kids (and my furry kids) love it. There are times they fight over who gets to lay on it, even though there is enough space for both of them. When the kids aren't fighting over it, the dogs take their opportunity to lay down. I also have used it a few times when relaxing. It's nice to have around and gives a little bit of extra cushioning.

I definitely need to make another one for the kids. That way, they can then fight over who gets which one, rather than fighting over just one. They don't really fight. It's more like a little bit of bickering, but hey, that comes with the territory of having more than one child.

Check out the available prints on our website to see what print you'd like to make your own pillow bed out of. You will need at least two yards of fabric with a 58-60" width. This is a great item to keep in mind while we have the 40% off older prints sale this holiday.