DIY Travel Pillow (DIY Pattern included)

Do you always experience neck pain during those long trips?? Have you felt shy thinking about your sleepy face hitting the person in the next seat? No more worries.Today I am showing "How to sew an Travel pillow " to avoid all the those embarrassing situations.It is so simple to make, that you can even hand sew or use fabric glue if you don't have a sewing machine.

Material Required :

1/2 yard fabric

Matching Thread

Sewing Machine or Fabric glue

Paper for pattern

Ruler & Pencil

Hand sewing needle

Fabric Scissors & Paper Scissors

Straight pins

Stuffing

Iron

Step 1: I used a 9" X 12" paper to make this pattern.(You can tape two A4 sheets if you don't have a 9"X 12"). Divide the paper into one inch squares.Start drawing the outer curve of the pillow from third square counting right to left horizontally and inner curve from the fourth square counting from the top.Maintain the four inches width through out the pattern and draw the half pillow shape as shown in the picture below. You can adjust a little bit to fit into the shape.(Picture 2). Cut the final pattern using scissors.

Step 2: Use straight pins to attach the pattern to the fabric . Place the pattern in the fold and cut the fabric pieces.Leave 1/4" seam allowance while cutting .

You can double fold the fabric (Which is folding the fabric once vertically and then folding that horizontally again) or fold it once into half and cut twice using the pattern.In the picture shown below ,I used double fold and cut the fabric pieces in a single go.

Step 3: Place the cut fabric pieces right sides facing each other. Pin them together with straight pins.Stitch along the edges with 1/4" seam allowance leaving around 4" gap on the top to turn the pillow form inside out and stuff. Make slits on the seam allowance (be careful not to cut through the seam) to evenly spread them when turned inside out and avoid bulkiness ..

You can do the same steps with hand sewing by making back stitch all around or using fabric glue all around and repeating the same steps as mentioned above.

Step 4: Turn the pillow form inside out and iron.Make sure to iron the seam allowance on the gap so that it is easy when hand sewing them.

Step 5: Now stuff the pillow through the gap .Work with little stuffing at a time and make sure to fill each corner.Stuff in such a way that your hand can't go through the stuffing once that area is stuffed. Once you reach the end, thread the hand sewing needle and finish the gap with a ladder stitch. If you don't know , how to sew a ladder stitch.Click here to learn.And that's it. Your pillow is now ready. How easy is that!!

If you are using fabric glue to make this pillow , use glue to secure the gap and pin them with binder clip or clothes pin until the glue is dry. You can also follow this step if you want to avoid sewing the ladder stitch.

For variation, you can use fleece instead of cotton or use two different fabrics on each side.It is totally customizable to your taste.Hope you like this simple tutorial. Share what you think about this travel pillow in the comments below. As always I will be happy to hear from you.