Pillow Bed

About a year ago I was at my sister Debi's house in Ohio and she brought out a pillow bed she had made for her Granddaughter.  I fell in love with it and had to make one for my Grandson. We went shopping and I bought some fleece, and took it home with me to Virginia to make the beds. There was a long delay in starting this project because we moved, and the material got packed away until we moved into our house in Texas almost a year later. I did not take pictures while I was making this pillow bed, so you may have to use your imagination a bit looking at the pictures I took after the the bed was finished.

Finished Product!

Fast forward to Super Bowl week 2016. I thought what better time to get this project done than this week, so my Grandson can have a comfortable spot to watch "My Boy" Peyton win the Super Bowl. It had been a long time since I saw my sisters creation, so I tried to work from memory, with a few tips from Pintrest.

I know there are several ways to make a pillow bed and I used ideas from a few of them. I bought a cute wiener dog print fleece that was about 60 inches wide. I cut the piece 76 inches long and put a 1 inch hem on each side along the salvage edges.

The hem on the salvage edges.

Next, I laid the fabric on the floor right side up. I folded each side over to the middle and over lapped the edges until the width was 28 inched. I pinned each end and sewed a one inch seam on the ends. I then turned the piece right side out and pushed out the corners.

The piece was turned right side out and measured and pinned all the way down with a width of 28 inches. Then marked into 18 1/2 inch sections and sewn.

I laid the piece out on the floor with the over lapped side up. I pinned the over lapped pieces so that the width was 28 inches all the way down the piece. Next, I marked it into four 18 1/2 inch sections.  I marked the section seam line with a quilt pencil, and then pinned it so it would stay in place when the sections were sewn.

The back of one of the sewn sections.

After I finished sewing each section, the back of each section had an opening in the back like a pillow sham. I put a standard pillow in each section.

Opening up the back of one of the section.

Inserting a standard size pillow.

After inserting a pillow in each section, I pinned the excess fabric on each side to make the pillow fit snug. I had about a 3 inch flap on each side that I sewed a seam along and cut rag fringe on the sides.

The seam on the side and the cut rag fringe.

These beds are so easy to make and if you don't want to go through all the measuring and marking, you can always just sew 4 standard pillowcases together. However you make it, the kids love them.

My Grandson uses it as a chair to watch TV and we use it as a bed for naps.