How to sew a quilted pillow cover for girls

Hi Creative Mamas! Have you ever sewn a quilted pillow your kids’ rooms? I started making my own embroidered pillows, applique pillow, nursery baby pillows and then moved onto quilted pillows to decorate every room of our house.

In this post I will show you how to make a great quilted pillow cover for girls. If you have a daughter, a granddaughter, a niece or a little sister you will be a super popular mom, grandma, auntie or sister! This pillow is just the perfect gift!!!

What is a quilted pillow?

A quilted pillow is made by quilting the pillow cover. This is usually done by sewing a patchwork or an applique design first and then quilting it to a batting underlay. The possibilities are endless and super exciting.

At one stage I had so many quilted pillows that I started giving them to my dearest friends as gifts. Now I am hooked on making my own beautiful quilted pillows and of course I had to share the tutorial for the most popular quilted pillow cover for girls that I have made so far 🙂

How to make a quilted pillow cover

For this tutorial I will show you how you can make a super easy quilted pillow by unleashing your creativity on the pillow cover.

We will use an envelope pillow pattern which requires no zipper insertions and its very easy and quick to make. If you like making envelope pillows this is another great envelope quilted pillow tutorial for you.

Quilted pillow cover for girls tutorial

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How to sew a pillow

Before we get to sewing the pillow let me show you how to make the quilted pillow cover. This pillow is meant to be for a girl’s room so I have used an applique pattern of a little girl. Make sure you download the FREE Applique by completing the form above.

Note: You can personalize the image by using fabrics that resemble your girl’s hair color and skin tone. It’s really nice to make the pillow extra special and you can even make the girl’s applique dress by using some outgrown clothes such as your girl’s favorite dress or t shirt fabric.

Step 1

Print out the Applique template and cut around it. The FREE Applique includes a girl and her mom 🙂

Place the applique pattern pieces on top of your chosen fabric scraps. Pin and cut around them.

Sew the pieces of your applique design to the base fabric. I like to pin the girl to the base fabric and then hand sew it using a combination of embroidery stitches such as running stitch or back stitch.

Decorate the face by embroidering the eyes, mouth and nose and feel free to embellish as many details as you wish.

Once you finish sewing and embellishing, cut around the girl using fabric scissors. By sewing the applique to a base fabric you will achieve a more substantial applique to sew into your pillow cover.

Choose a base fabric that matches your beautiful girl applique. I tried a couple of options and ended up choosing a white embroidery base fabric. (Even though I didn’t embroider anything on it)

In this case I hand sewed the applique onto the white base fabric using a basting stitch and then I added a floral strip applique piece using a running stitch.

Once you are happy with the girl applique on the base fabric it’s time to choose other fabrics in order to make the pillow cover.

Step 2: Sewing the applique quilted pillow cover

For this pillow I wanted to end up with a pillow case which measured 18” x 18” (45.7 cm x 45.7 cm). Make sure you get the appropriate pillow insert for this measurement.

This tutorial is based on the above measurements but you can adapt it to any other measurements.

Choose fabric scraps that work well with your applique as well with the base fabric. I have chosen 100% cotton scraps which match the white base fabric.

I added 2 side pieces and a top piece.

Attach the sides pieces first and then sew the top piece. Be sure to press the seams as you go.

Once the whole front pillow cover is sewn together it’s time to cut the cotton batting. I like using this brand.

Cut a piece of batting the same size as the pillow cover. You can do this by using fabric scissors or your rotary cutter and cutting mat.

You also need to cut the lining the same size as the quilted pillow cover and the batting.

This is how the back of the pillow will look at this stage. The seams should be pressed nicely and the applique should be handsewn to the base fabric.

Choose a nice contrasting thread for the quilting process (I am using a top stitching thread) and grab your quilting binding plastic clips to make your life easier 🙂

Clip the edges of the pillow cover so that the batting and the pillow cover are stable.

Start quilting all around the base fabric. You can quilt any shapes you like. I enjoy just making ramdom lines but I also like following the edge of the applique.

Quilt over the applique in different directions. The applique has been only basted by hand so it needs to be well attached to the cover.

You can play around with quilting some extra details in your girl’s clothing as you quilt along. This will also ensure that the applique is well attached to the cover.

This is how my quilted pillow cover looked after I had finished using the contrasting thread.

Step 3: Quilting the pillow cover

Using a regular sewing thread start quilting straight vertical lines on the side panels of the pillow. I like using a matching color thread for this step because it will add some texture but it will be subtle.

When you finish with one panel simply cut the thread and start on the other panel. When you finish the quilting process simply remove the quilting clips.

This is my finished quilted pillow cover . Note that I also quilted some curly lines on the 2 side panels for some extra fun!

Step 4: Personalized quilted pillow for girls

I wanted to make a quilted pillow cover that was super special for my daughter. I decided that I wanted to make a pillow that would really create a bond between us. So… I ended up adding strips of yarn and mini wooden clips so that I could write messages for her.

I write a different message every week and sometimes she writes a message back for me to find when I go to her room. It’s been a lovely way to communicate at a different level. It’s surprising what a humble pillow can do for our relationship with our kids 🙂

Grab some yarn and some mini wooden pins. Make sure the yarn is thick like a 12 ply wool yarn. I used my 100% wool yarn which I dyed it using natural dyes

Roll the yarn over the quilted pillow and fold it within itself three or four times. Cut the top end of the folded yarn as shown is photo below.

Place the yarn ends on the right side of the quilted pillow cover and place the lining fabric underneath.

Now it’s time to sew all the layers together (including the yarn).

Pin the yarn to all the pillow layers and sew around it using an overlocker/serger or a zig zag stitch.

Make sure you start sewing the top edge so that the yarn is attached nicely.

This is how the pillow cover should look at this stage.

Cut the bottom edges of the yarn.

The pillow cover is now ready to be transformed into an enevelope pillow.

Step 4: Sewing the envelope quilted pillow

For this tutorial I am making an envelope pillow which is super easy and quick to make. Bellow is the diagram of the actual pattern of an envelope pillow.

We have already completed the front part of the pattern and we now have to make the 2 back pieces in order to make the pillow .

Choose a nice matching fabric for the back of the pillow. I chose a purple silk that was in my scrap fabric stash :).

Using a serger/overlock or a zig zag stitch sew around the side edges and the bottom edges.

Fold the top edges twice and press.

Sew using a regular sewing stitch.

Place your 2 back pieces and the front piece on your working table.

Pin one back piece to the front cover right sides touching.

Sew around.

Pin the other back piece to the front cover. One back piece will be overlapping with the other back piece. this will be the back opening for the pillow.

Once the second back piece is sewn the pillow should look like this. Clip the corners.

Turn the pillow inside out through the back opening.

This is the completed pillow once it’s been turned inside out. Press it and insert the inner pillow.

Place it in nice spot in your girl’s room and clip the mini wooden pegs.

Write little messages for your girl and voila the quilted pillow is done! Now let the messages work their magic 🙂

I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial. For more special and unique pillow tutorials check out these ones:

• Hand embroidered pillow that your kids will love
• How to make an applique pillow by embroidering appliques
• How to make an easy quilted pillow cover { for Christmas}
• How to make an envelope pillow cover Tutorial

Check out my favorite DIY baby pillow tutorial

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