Creativebug Whether for bedtime or play time or both, a house-shaped pillow is all kinds of wonderful. Use your imagination to sew up a dream home or copy the color and details of your own. Kids can help with color selection, cutting out decorative elements and stuffing the pillow. trust us — they’re gonna like this project.
Materials
- Felt
- Thread
- Embroidery floss
- Embroidery needle
- Rotary cutter (optional)
- Scissors
- Ruler
- Chalk
- Sewing machine
- Stuffing
- Dried beans (optional)
Step 1: Cut Out House Pieces
Trace your design onto the felt you’ll be using for the sides, bottom, and roof of the house. Cut them out using a rotary cutter and/or scissors. The dimensions we used are included below, but make your house any size you’d like.
House sides & bottom: 6” x 6” (cut 3)
House front and back: 6” x 6” x 9” (cut 2)
Roof: 9” x 6”
Door: 3.5” x 2.5”
Shrubs, grass, flower boxes: Up to you.
Step 2: Decorate the Walls
It’s time to add whatever decorative elements you want to your house pillow.
Sew a door to the front of the house and then add an embroidered doorknob (you could easily make a doorknob out of a button or a bead, but an embroidered knob is safer if little children will play with the pillow. Use dark embroidery floss to make the outline and a satin stitch to fill it in.
Psst: Want to add more embroidered elements to your house? Take Rebecca Ringquist’s fantastic embroidery class for beginners.
Sew on any greenery you’d like as well. I added a few bushes, some window boxes made out of felt scraps, and flowers made of French knots (also found in Rebecca’s embroidery class).
Sew on any bushes, shrubs, or grass you’d like. Pin the bush to the side of the house and then sew around the edge. If you want to add windows, draw the outline in chalk and then sew or hand stitch over it in contrast thread or embroidery floss.
I also cut leftover felt strips into grass and added them next to the front door.
Add flowers to your window boxes if you’d like. I used pink embroidery floss and French knots on these.
Step 3: Assemble the House
Start by sewing the roof to the front and back of the house. With the right sides (the ones you just spent all this time embellishing) facing in, pin the long (9”) side of the roof to the angled top of the front of the house.
Sew it. Now pin the other side. Sew it. Repeat for the back of the house. When you’re finished, it should look something like the image below.
Next, pin the sides to the house and sew the seams shut. End with the bottom of the house, but leave one section open so that you can turn the house right side out and add stuffing.
Step 4: Turn the House and Add Stuffing
Turn the house rightside out by pulling through the remaining open section. Next, add stuffing until the house is full. If you’d like, you can add dried beans or small pebbles to the bottom of the house to weigh it down.
Step 5: Sew House Closed
Hand stitch the house completely closed.
Anyone want to come over and make a whole neighborhood with us? What details would you add to your house?