How to make a jersey knit shag pillow

I am really really liking the jersey knit rugs and pillows right now.  I found a yellow jersey rug not to long ago for my kitchen and also saw some darling pillows BUT the prices on them about made my jaw hit the floor.  I can totally see why though because they are time consuming to make.  I ended up buying the rug be knew I could somehow figure out how to make the pillows and especiallly in any color I wanted to!

I jumped online when I got home and there was next to nothing on how to make these pillows! I FINALLY found this tutorial: http://www.vanessachristenson.com/2011/04/v-and-co-how-to-shag-pillow.html and knew that I could do it.

Vanessa’s tutorial was AWESOME and very easy to follow.  I must say these pillows are really easy but very time consuming. So be prepared to spend some time on them.. or maybe they are for me because I get pulled in many different directions and because I can’t sew very well!  I bought my jersey at Hobby Lobby and really wanted yellow but they didn’t have any so I bought some turquoise and black.  I also bought some simple black cotton for the back of the pillow.  I started cutting using my rotary cutter and mat but was getting very frustrated as my cutter was NOT cutting through the jersey. So I walked away frustrated.

My mom came down for the weekend and of course always helps me make my sewing projects much easier.  She tried my cutter for about oh one second before she determined it was crap and that we needed to go buy another one.  So off we went to the store and I ended up using my 40% off coupon for the best cutter EVERY.. Came home and she whipped those strips like it was nothing!

okay here’s what you will need:  (taken from Vanessa’s blog)
*1 yard (to be safe in case of mess ups) of jersey fabric with the width of 60″ (jersey comes in a bolt length of anywhere from 42″ to 62″ or even wider…but the most common i’ve found is 58″ to 60″)   I ENDED UP GETTING 2 YARDS OF BLACK AND 1 YARD OF TURQUOISE SO I COULD MAKE MORE THAN ONE.
*2 squares of cotton fabric close in matching color to your jersey fabric cut to 11″ x 15″ (if you make a slightly larger pillow you will still be okay because you will have a little extra fabric)

cut from jersey fabric 19 strips at 1 1/2″ each.

*from each of the 19 strips cut 15: 4″ length rectangles. (you should be able to get 15, but if your fabric is wonky, and you get less than 15 it’s okay because remember you have extra fabric.)  I ended up cutting more strips  to make my pillow a bit fuller.

now take your two cotton rectangles cut to 11″ x 15″ on 1 of the right sides of your fabric, draw 3/4″ lines all the way across your rectangle. (you should get 19 lines)  I believe my lines were a little off on this too I think I only ended up with 18 but it is okay because the pillow still turned out darling! set the other piece of fabric aside as this will be the back of your pillow

next take one of your jersey rectangles, and measure at least 1/4″ down from the top of your pillow fabric, and start sewing a straight line using your drawn line on your fabric as your guide to place your jersey fabric strips.  as each strip is placed on the line scrunch it a bit while sewing it into place, continue adding strips one after another until you have a full line full of jersey.

Continue on until each row is full and it looks like a shag pillow.  Once done take your two cotton rectangles line them up and sew around all 4 sides. (inside out of course) leaving a small opening to fill the pillow with stuffing.   Once done turn the pillow so the right sides are facing out and stuff away!

Hand stitch your opening closed.  I know my tutorial isn’t that great but go visit Vanessa’s blog and you will see how detailed she is! I am in LOVE with my pillows 🙂   and they cost a total of $12.00 for 2 of them.