Easy Sewing Project: Child's Art Pillow

If your child likes to draw or paint, and if you know how to use a sewing machine, you can put your two talents together to create a beautiful Child's Art Pillow. This pillow can be placed on your child's bed or can be featured in your living room. This pillow craft also makes a wonderful gift.

To make this pillow, buy plain cotton fabric, such as muslin or another light colored fabric that will allow the art work to stand out. Machine wash and dry the fabric to remove any factory sizing and to pre shrink it. Then cut two pieces of fabric in the size you want the finished pillow to be.

Place one piece of the fabric on newspaper or cardboard to protect your workspace. Then have your child draw their art on the fabric using permanent markers or fabric markers. They can also use fabric paint if they like. If they are very creative, have them cut other fabric scraps to use in their art. For instance, they could cut some flower petals to add to flowers that they drew. They can glue the scraps to the fabric using a fabric glue such at Liquid Thread, which is machine washable.

After your child has completed the art work, place the two pieces of fabric with the right sides facing and stitch around the entire pillow case, leaving a space about 6 inches wide for stuffing. Clip the corners and turn the pillow case right side out. Stuff the pillow case with polyfil then hand stitch the opening closed.

To see a photo of what a Child's Art Pillow can look like, click here. As you can see, even the most simple art work makes a wonderful pillow. And you don't have to make a square or rectangle pillow. You can experiment with shapes. You can make round pillows or simple animal shapes like a cat or dog silhouette.

Turning your child's art into a pillow is a great way to have a keepsake that you can cherish for a very long time.

For more simple craft ideas, see the following articles:

Crafts for Kids: Newspaper Slippers

Toilet Paper Roll Crafts for Kids

Crafts for Kids - Homemade Washable Spray Paint