Tiny Quilt and Pillow Sew a Softie Tutorial

What does every softie need? A tiny quilt and pillow for sleeping! These tiny accessories feature great lessons in hand-stitching and beginner quilting. Grab your favorite fabric scraps and some sashiko thread for this fun little tutorial!

 This is my third year participating in the international Sew a Softie event and I'm so jazzed about offering these sleeping essentials for the sweet little critters everyone has been stitching!

Sew a Softie was founded by the lovely Trixi of SewASoftie.com with the goal of inspiring and empowering kids and adults all over the world to learn how to sew.

There is one new, free tutorial per day in the month of July, so make sure to follow fellow bloggers on Instagram and the hashtag #sewasoftie to keep up with the fun this summer!

On to the tutorial!

After offering sweet little Narwhal and Deer sewing patterns the last few years, I wanted to do something a bit different. I'm super into Sashiko Stitching and quilting right now, so I wanted to bring those hand-stitching techniques to this tutorial as well!

Once upon a time, I was a middle school French teacher who shared a hallway with the Careers teacher. Part home economics, part technology and career exploration--her class offered an array of exercises that the students were--uh hmmmm--less than inclined in which to participate.

However, one week in winter, during those hectic between-Thanksgiving-and-winter-break-weeks, she assigned a pincushion project.

For a week straight, I had kids stitching under their desks in my class. Carrying these 4 square inch tiny pillows around--gleefully showing off their skills to anyone who would listen.

"Miss!! Look what I made!!"

So many of them took such great pride in hand-sewing a few pieces of cloth together.

In a culture of modern consumerism--many are never exposed to the joys of producing something with their hands and the magic it brings to one's self esteem. This is the wonder of sewing with kids. I hope you enjoy this tiny quilt and pillow with your kids as much as my students loved theirs.

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For the Tiny Quilt and Pillow Tutorial, you'll need:

• Tiny quilt and pillow pattern 
• Fabric (I used some linen/cotton blend Japanese Yuwa)
• 22 inches of Bias Tape (Learn to make your own from your fabric stash by clicking here)
• Cotton Quilt Batting
• Stuffing of your choice (I use Poly Fil or Wool Roving)
• Needle and Pins
• Sashiko Thread (You don't have to use Sashiko, but it makes a world of difference while sewing and makes the finished product look AH-mazing)
• Embroidery Scissors
• Optional* Thimble
• Optional* Clover Clips

You'll first need to start with cutting out 2 pieces of fabric each for the pillow and blanket, plus one blanket-sized quilt batting.

To make the tiny pillow, place your fabrics right-sides together and use a back-stitch around the edge.

 Leave a one inch hole to turn your pillow right-side out. Stuff it with polyfill or wool roving, then use a ladder stitch to close your pillow.

For the tiny quilt, layer your fabrics right-sides out, sandwiching the quilt batting between them. Pin them together and use a pencil or seamstress pen to mark your lines as shown on the pattern. Use the sashiko (or regular embroidery thread) to do a running stitch along the lines. Hide your knots by doing your first stitch between the layers of fabric.

Once finished with the quilting, fold and pin the bias tape around the edges of the quilt. 

For the corners, pinch the excess fabric and fold it down. Clover Clips are really useful here, as the pins bend the fabric a lot, making your lines difficult to see as you sew.

 Once everything is in place, use another running stitch along the edge of the bias tape to finish your tiny quilt!

If something goes wonky, like I didn't quite cut my bias tape long enough, do some fun visible mending for a cottage-y, lived-in look! You can always make another one!

Finally, put your softie babies to bed in style. They'll be so grateful for the softness 💗 You can find these dolly patterns in my pattern shop! Miss Marie Mouse is beginner level felt stitching and Miss Tulip is just a little more advanced. Have a happy summer friends! 

Stay safe, stay magical!