Kangaroo Book Pillow Fat Quarter Project

If you were one of our wonderful customers who bought ten or twenty of the 7,000 fat quarters we recently shipped, you may be looking for a fun fat quarter project! May I suggest a Kangaroo Book Pillow! Fat quarters are the perfect size for a 16” square reading pillow. It’s a fun and easy project to do with and for the avid kid and adult readers in your life! Below are the step by step instructions for this project as well as a video of me doing it live. Enjoy!

(3) Fat Quarters

(1) 14” Regular Zipper (can be longer)

(1) yard ⅝” Elastic

⅛” Basting Tape

(1) 16” x 16” Pillow Form

Thread to coordinate with the back of the pillow

Zipper foot

Sewing Machine

Pillow Front: (1) 17” x 17” square. Mark 6” from each corner for elastic placement.

Pillow Back: (2) 9” x 17” rectangles. On one 17” side of each, mark the center and 2.5” in from each edge.

Pocket: (1) 10” x 17” rectangle

Elastic: (4) 8” lengths

 

Insert zipper (I demonstrate how in my video below)

Hem Pocket by turning it under ½” twice and stitching close to the folded edge.

Baste pocket to back of pillow along bottom and side seams, wrong side of pocket to right side of pillow back. The top of the pocket will cover up the zipper.

Without stretching, position the elastics so they are equidistant from the corners (mine ended up being approximately 5.5” inches from the corners. I used the 6” marks as rough guides.) Baste in place.

Unzip the zipper.

Pin the front to the back, right sides together.

Sew along all four sides, using a ½” seam allowance, pivoting at the corners.

Clip the corners.

Turn right side out through the zipper opening, coaxing the corners out with your fingers.

Stuff your 16″ x 16″ pillow through the open zipper (the hardest part of the entire project!)

Admire your Kangaroo Book Pillow and start reading!

 

If you’re more of a visual learner, here is my quick instructional video showing how to do it:

Happy Sewing!