How to sew a fidget pillow with rainbow reversible sequin fabric
How to sew a fidget pillow with rainbow reversible sequin fabric!
Reversible sequin fabric is trendy these days and it is easy to see why – it’s magnetic, you can hardly see it without reaching out to touch it! We have some pillows made out of sequins all over which are fun but not as snuggly, so I thought I’d make a softer pillow with just a patch of sequin fabric to fidget with. This pillow has been well tested by my two kids; it’s great for squeezing when feeling disregulated, comfy enough to use like a normal pillow, and a great way to keep hands busy while playing a board game! I think babies up through teens will appreciate something to fiddle with that looks store bought but is actually handmade.
This post was sponsored by JOANN, which means they supplied some of the materials and compensated me for my time, but all opinions are my own.
I had trouble choosing what to draw for the photos, I went with something simple! It’s nice to just pet it back and forth too, but super quiet, if you need something to help kids sit still with virtual school this fall.
I couldn’t resist this coordinating rainbow fur! The pile was short enough that I could treat it just like fleece, so this whole thing was super quick to make.
These rainbows don’t move but they still feel nice to run your hands over! I think I’m going to turn one into a patch from the leftover scraps, too.
I used the selvage edges instead of hemming and it’s envelope style, super quick and easy to stitch!
With low-pile (read: not super fluffy/long hair) fur, you can use a rotary cutter. If you’re using a fluffy fur, you need to use scissors
Front of the pillow
(1) sequin piece that is 11.5″ long and 15″ tall (see step 1 for trimming instructions)
(1) fleece piece that is 18″ long and 15″ tall
Back of the pillow
The tricky part of this is needing to INCLUDE the selvage end on both rectangles, on the short/height side (as seen above, in the envelope back closure). This allows you to skip hemming the bulky fleece; you can do so if you prefer the look but add length accordingly.
(1) fleece piece that is 19″ long and 15″ tall
(1) fleece piece that is 17″ long and 15″ tall
Everything is sewn with a .5″ seam allowance
Step 1- Trim off the plain black fabric when you’re measuring!
Step 2- Lay your sequin piece on top of the front fleece piece, right sides together, and clip. Sew with the 1/2″ seam allowance. I had no trouble sewing the sequins as is; if your sewing machine is finicky you can use a seam ripper to gently pry off a 1/2″ margin of sequins along the edge you’ll be sewing.
Step 3- Finger press the seam open!
Step 4 – Lay the shorter front rectangle on top of the longer front rectangle, with the right sides both facing up. When layered on top of one another, the whole rectangle should be 28.5″ long, leaving roughly 7.5″ of overlap.
Step 5- Clip the overlap and sew with 1/4″ seam allowance, just along the clipped pieces, taking care that the pieces stay straight and don’t slide around.
Step 6- Lay the front and back pieces on top of each other and clip, sewing the entire way around with 1/2″ seam allowance. Gently pull it through the envelope opening, finger press the corners out and the seams, and you’re done!