Friendship Pillows!

  In the early 1980's, my umi (my mother) had been going through a crafting craze-phase of making cloth cabbage patch look alike dolls and crocheted clutch handbags.  She had given me many of the colorful, printed, scrap fabric pieces she used  from those projects. I remember toying around sewing two of the scrap pieces together by hand, stuffing them with some leftover batting and showing my mother a little pillow I'd made.  She was impressed and thought it was the cutest thing ever. I made another one to give to my BFF at the time which I decorated with a little ribbon or something.  I think that was one of the best gifts I ever gave at around 11 years old.  After seeing how happy my friend was that I'd made this for her, my umi then called them friendship pillows, and that started a whole new crafting craze around the house. Not only were they totally inexpensive and fun to make, but we also discovered that they made great well received gifts. Everyone young and old loved them. We made many back then.

Recently I revived the idea and made a few of them.  I took pics for you guys so you can make some too Insha Allaah (Allaah Willing). Hope you all will like this, and remember to read all the steps involved first before starting one for yourselves.  Enjoy!

I traced a 7inch x 7inch square shape out of a piece of newspaper to use as a pattern. You can make it as big as you like.

 

Then I pinned the pattern piece to the scrap fabric I was using and cut out my pillow

 

Next, I sewed along the sides of the pillow using the standard 5/8 inch seam allowance leaving about 3 inches unstitched.

 

I cut away the corners very close to the stitching to give ease and shape to my pillow.

 

I then turned my pillow onto the right side and pressed it out to define its shape and neaten the work.

 

Next, I stuffed the pillow with a little batting (not too much though).

 

I pinned the opening closed and stitched it together using a 1/4 inch seam allowance.

 

And that was all to it.

  You can make them as simple or as elaborate as you like.  Cut small strips and sew them together, use embellishments, trims, and ribbons, and have some fun.  Then give them out as gifts.  They cost hardly anything to make and are so cute and special looking, people of all ages just smile at receiving them. I am on a roll myself and plan to keep making them and saving them up to give away Insha Allaah.

Tips:

*Repurpose the batting from that old bed pillow you are about to throw away.  You can stuff tons of friendship pillows and not have to buy any batting from the store.

*You can make iron-on decals from your printer to personalize your friendship pillows too.

*Embroidering a design onto it before stuffing will also make a nice touch.
*Take pics of your friendship pillows and share them here at Slipstitches!

*Be creative.  Cut out patterns of different shapes and sizes and have even more fun!

Note: If you make a round shaped or curved pillow, remember to make tiny snips along the seam allowance to give ease and shape before turning it out onto its right side.

Please leave a comment if you like, and scroll down, there's more to see!

Thanks for viewing and you're welcomed to join the family here and follow the blog.
Enjoy your sewing journey.