Restoration Hardware Baby and Child Knockoff Pillow

I was flipping through one of my favorite catalogs, and saw this pillow.

Image from Restoration Hardware Baby and Child

My son's favorite number is 5, so I thought I would make him one of these pillows for his bedroom.  The originals are made from wool felt.  I don't know why, but for some reasons I found a yard of wool felt in my stash of fabric, in an ivory color.  I had to laugh...what are the chances of me having exactly what I needed in the house?

Whenever I make a pillow, I always like to start with my trusty square.

I traced a 13" x 13" square onto the felt and then cut out two from the material.

I then cut out a length of fabric long enough to go all the way around the square (13" x 4) plus an inch for seam allowance by 5" wide.  Using leftover fabric from my son's valance I made years ago, I made welting.  Welting is very easy to make...all I did was cut a strip of fabric and sewed it around cording using a zipper foot or a cording foot.  The trick is to sew as close to the cording as possible.

I then sewed the cording to the right side of the fabric all the way around, clipping the corners of the welting to make it fit easier.

I printed out the #5 on my computer  (using a light ink setting so as not to use up all my toner).  I then pinned it onto a grey piece of felt and cut it out.

I then pinned and sewed the number onto the right side of one of the pieces of fabric.

I then pinned and sewed the edges to the front side of the pillow...right sides together.

This is what it should look like before the back gets sewn on.  Then pin the back onto the sides...right sides together.

Be careful when you sew the side piece onto the back not to sew something you don't mean to.  Sew slowly.  I start at the bottom about an inch in, sew the other three sides and end about an inch in on the bottom again.  This way I can turn it easily.

 Once I turned it right side out, I stuffed it full.

Using my favorite fabric glue, I glued the open edges together.

Voila!  This pillow was very easy to make.  It was a bit more time consuming because it is a square pillow with sides, but still easy.  Felt it great to work with.

The best part is that my son loves it.  The second best part is that it cost nothing since I already had everything I needed in the house.   What do you think?

Don't forget that my Swing into Spring party is still going on.  The link will stay open through Friday.
-Judy