When it comes to the back to school season, there’s one icon that’s synonymous with school and teachers and that is the trusty yellow pencil. Get inspired by this back to school staple and create a pencil pillow for the teacher in your life!
DISCLOSURE: I was compensated with a product sample by Fairfield World, but the opinions are all mine and not that of the company! In addition, some of the links in this post contain affiliate links, which come at no cost to you. Know that I only promote products I personally use and stand behind. To learn more about my affiliates, please review my disclosure policy.
If you’ve been following me for a while you’ll know I’ve been slowly working on my sewing machine skills and fabric crafting and continued to do for with this new craft for my friends at Fairfield World. They graciously sent me one of their neck roll pillows which I knew would be the perfect shape to become a pencil! Pillow forms are the perfect base item to build a new decorative piece of home decor around, and these ones filled with Poly-Fil are the perfect form of comfort for those needing to rest their head or, in this case, their neck.
Pencil Pillow Supplies:
- Poly-Fil Premier Neckroll Pillow Insert 5″ x 14″
- Poly-Fil Polyester Fiber Fill
- Fabric: yellow, pink, grey, tan, black
- Sewing Machine
- Sewing clips or pins
- Rotary cutter
- Ruler
- Scrap paper for template
- Needle and thread
- Tailor’s chalk
First start with my least favorite task in sewing and iron your fabric.
Trim your yellow fabric to cover the largest area of the neckroll pillow and cut a small strip for the grey metal band.
Lay the pink fabric right side down and stand the neck roll up on it’s end. Trace this circle shape on the end. Next, use a ruler to mark 1.5″ inches at several areas around the circle to make it larger. Connect the marks to make a larger circle. Cut out the large circle. Trace this same shape on the tan fabric. Cut a triangle pie shape out of the tan circle. Cut a smaller circle with the same pie shape out which will act as the tip of the pencil.
Lay the grey down on the end of the yellow fabric with the right sides facing each other and use clips to secure. Sew the end together with your machine. Use an iron to press the seam.
Sew the long ends of the yellow pencil base together to form a cylinder shape that will fit the pillow.
Using the needle and thread stitch around the outside of the pink circle. Place it over the end of the neck roll and pull the thread to tighten it on the form.
Attach the right sides of the yellow cylinder pencil body and the pink eraser and sew to attach. Turn this right side out and slip onto the pillow.
Pull the tan circle shape back out and lay the black pencil point shape on the top. Sew to attach together. Next, overlap the ends of the tan shapes and sew to close. This should create a wide pointed cone shape.
Sew a loose stitch around the circle shape and pull to tighten on the end of the neck roll pillow. Before tightening too much, stuff some extra Poly-Fil in this cone to fill the shape.
Lay the yellow edge over the end of the tan cone and fold the ends in slightly to hide the raw seam. Use straight pins to hold these two fabric components together.
Use a slip stich to sew the seams together to close the opening while hiding the rough edges.
Your pencil pillow is now complete! Gift it to your child’s teacher this coming school year to serve as an extra comfort component for their desk chair or an addition to the classroom’s magic carpet experience. Poly-Fil® Premier Ultra Plush pillow inserts have the look and feel of down but are filled with polyester fiber fill making them a comfortable accessory for your bed, couch or chair.
Tip: if you want, you could also add heat transfer vinyl with the teacher’s name onto the yellow fabric before you sew it all together.
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