If holiday travel is in your future, I have the perfect fast gift to sew for you! I used one of JOANN’s adorable fleece prints for this kid’s travel pillow sewing tutorial. I’m excited to share that I’m collaborating with them to share this project. That means they compensated me for my materials and my time, but of course I only share products & stores that I already use and love, and all opinions are my own. With a handy pocket to store a book and a little handle for dragging along, I think it will be well received by any kiddo, and they are so fast to sew! There are a zillion prints to choose from which makes it easy to pick one that fits each kid’s personality.

Please note: this is sewn and written for fleece, which does not fray and has a touch of stretch. I have not tried it in quilting cotton; if you sew it as is, you will have a raw cotton edge and raw seams that would fray longterm if you’re washing it frequently. An easy fix to this would be to encase those raw seams with a single fold bias binding – maybe at some point in time I’ll rework this in cotton but proceed knowing those terms 🙂

We got a chance to test this out on a 13 hour road trip to Florida recently! I actually borrowed it for a nap, and I fully endorse it as a travel pillow for adults too. The fleece makes it “cozy” but this pattern would work with woven or knits as well.

The handle lets it slid on to a suitcase, or be carried over a little shoulder (or, fair warning, used to whip it at a sibling, ha!)

A small stuffed animal and book fit in just right, which is what we let them take on the road anyways! Otherwise we’d be buried under all their favorite stuffed friends.

Isn’t this print adorable? We have been all about castle, knights, unicorns, and dragons lately so I knew they would love it.  I ordered the supplies online when I was thinking about them and picked them up in store, it was so simple. I appreciate that my kids still fit in a cart there, it makes it much easier to shop!

It is sewn envelope style, so no zippers to worry about, and great for beginners! Ready to make your own?

Pin this kid’s travel pillow sewing tutorial for later using this link or collage photo:

Kid’s travel pillow sewing tutorial

Supplies

• 1 yard of one of JOANN’s adorable fleece prints
• 1 travel pillow form
• Scissors
• quilt ruler & rotary cutter
• Wonder clips

Steps

**Over time I’ve heard some comments it is hard to follow with this fabric, so I sewed up a quick second sample with different fabric, and added more step out photos**

Step 1- Cut a rectangle 11″ tall by 3″ wide, fold it in half length-wise, right sides together and sew down the open long side. Turn it right side out and top stitch along both long edges, forming the strap.

Step 2- Cut 1 rectangle of fleece 14″ long X 12″ tall. Cut another rectangle 14″ long X 9″ tall and hem one long side with 1″ hem, single folded. Layer the hemmed rectangle, right side up, on top of the 14″ long X 12″ tall rectangle, right side up, and sew along all 3 edges with a basting (long) stitch (shown above).

Step 3- With the same 14″long X 12″tall rectangle in step 2, hem the right, short side with 1″ hem, single folded. Just showing how everything lays in the bottom photo!

Step 3- Cut a rectangle 16″ long X 12″ tall and lay it facing right side up. Sew the handle on, centered and tucked down, away from the edge, as shown.

Step 4.1- Cut another rectangle 12″ long X 7.5″ tall.

4.2- Lay down the rectangle with the attached handle facing right side up, and then the rectangle with the hemmed pocket facing right side down.

4.3-Layer the 12″ long  X 7.5″ tall rectangle on top (this is the rectangle you see on the top, to the right, in the photo). No need to hem its edge because we are using fleece; fleece doesn’t fray and the edge will be hidden.

4.4-Clip around the entire rectangle and sew around all 4 sides with 1/4″ seam allowance.

Step 5- Clip the corners off, turn right side out through the envelope opening, push the corners out with a pen and your pillow is ready!