Tutorial: How to Make a Nine-Patch Pillow

Spending time with our daughters while teaching them to sew (or learning along side them) is so rewarding.  First of all you get the opportunity to spend that important time together, second you are teaching them a skill that they can use their entire life, third you teaching more than sewing you are teaching perseverance, patience, diligence, etc. Fourthly, you are helping them to learn to be creative!

After discussing with my daughters the the different options for this sewing tutorial, they both excitedly exclaimed, “The Nine-Patch Pillow!” Apparently, teaching our daughters to sew also makes for some wonderful memories! They both thought this was one of their favorite things that they made when they were younger.  So here it is, the Nine-Patch Pillow. Have fun and remember that learning to sew is just like anything else you learn. You will get better with practice and those first attempts are just as precious as the later ones.

You can use scraps of material that you have already, or you can purchase the following:

- 1/4 yard of Material One
- 1/4 yard of Material Two
- 1/4 yard of Material for the Back of Pillow
(With the above amounts you can make 3-4 nine-patch pillows and even a four-patch.)
- Thread
- Scissors
- Straight Pins
- Fiber-fill Stuffing
- Sewing Machine (this project could also be sewn all by hand)
- Sewing Needle
- Iron & Ironing Board

Be sure to pre-wash your material and iron it.

 

Cut 5 – 3 1/2″ squares of material one.

Cut 4 – 3 1/2″ squares of material two.

Layout the squares in the above pattern.

Starting with the top row take the first two squares and lay them right sides together.

Sew a 1/4″ seam.  (Remember to hold onto the thread tails when staring off each new seam.) Iron the seam flat while it is still closed; this sets the seam. Then gently open it up and press the seam toward the darkest patch. This will hide the seams better.

Add the third piece to the two that you already have sewn. Iron the seams in the same way as above.

Sew the strips of three together. Lay the right sides together and make sure the seams are alined. Oops, you can see in my example that my seams didn’t match up perfectly. It will make it more endearing, right? The seam could be taken out and redone if you want it to match perfectly. However, when your little girls are starting out, don’t let perfection ruin your time together. Press the seams toward the side with the darkest material.

Here is the finished nine-patch top.

To make the back of the pillow, cut the third material equal to the size of the finished nine-patch top. Lay right side of back and right side of nine-patch top together.  Sew a 1/4″ seam around entire pillow leaving a small opening.

Carefully clip the tips off the four corners near the seam (once it’s inside0ut, it’ll look very sharp). Turn pillow right side out through the opening. Using the blunt end of a paint brush (or something similar) push out the corners of the pillow. Don’t use anything to sharp or you could poke a hole in it. Then iron the pillow — it will need it. : )

Fill the pillow with fiber-fill stuffing using small portions at a time. Make sure to fill the corners well. Stuff as full as you would like!

Using your sewing needle and thread, sew a simple slip stitch along the opening to close ‘er up.

Your pillow is now finished! Celebrate another creation and accomplishment.