Scrap Strip Pillow

A Beginning Quilt Project for Young Girls, ages 7 to 10

I’m proud of my 9-year old daughter, A., for creating this pillow. One day while I was serging around some cloth napkins, she was in the mood to sew, too. She got out her scrap bag and got to work at the idle-no-longer sewing machine. With a little help from Mom, the resulting pillow became Gramma’s birthday present. Her pillow inspired B., our daughter who is 7. B. completed a pillow top in the same afternoon.

This makes a great project for new seamstresses because it doesn’t require careful piecing — your young seamstress will be sewing only straight seams, and not very many of them, at that. She’ll get good practice at using the sewing machine to seam those straight lines, which every seamstress needs to perfect. In addition, she’ll be able to complete the pillow pretty quickly, which makes for a great confidence builder.

The fabric scraps your daughter will need are 11″ long and at least 2″ wide. She will need as many of the strips so that when they are sewn together, the resulting pillow top will measure 11″ across. These strip dimensions allow for a 1/2″ seam allowance and will result in a 10″ diameter pillow. Notice in A.’s pillow (above) that some of her strips are quite wide; she used strips that were wider than the 2″ minimum. Feel free to adjust the dimensions of the pillow to suit your intended size pillow.

Supplies

• cotton fabric scraps — at least 11″ long and at least 2″ wide
• 11″ square of cotton fabric — for pillow back
• thread in a neutral color
• pins
• sewing machine
• iron & ironing board
• pillow batting
• needle & thread — to hand-sew the last side

1. Sew the Pillow Top.

Put 2 strips right sides together. Pin if necessary, or teach your daughter how to “finger pin” as she sews. Using a 1/2″ seam allowance, seam the 2 strips together. Press seam allowance open or to the darker side.
Continue adding strips until the pillow top measures 11″ across all the strips. Trim all threads.

2. Add the Pillow Back.

Right sides together, lay the pillow top on top of the 11″ square for the pillow back. Trim backing to the same size as the top, if necessary. Pin around all sides to line up edges. Using a 1/2″ seam allowance and backstitching at beginning and end, sew around all 4 sides, leaving a 3″ opening in the middle of the beginning side. Trim threads. Turn the pillow to the right side.

3. Stuff the Pillow.

Stuff the pillow full of pillow batting. Fill it as fully and as smoothly as possible. Use small clumps of batting to get an evenly filled pillow.

4. Finish the Open Side.

Fold under the raw edges of the fabric at the opening. Pin closed. Handstitch the opening closed. Knot securely and trim threads.

Wasn’t that easy? Please comment below if you have comments, questions or suggestions.

© Copyright 2007 by Wardee Harmon and A. Harmon. Used with permission from the authors.