Stuffed Dog Pillow — A DIY Adventure

Some of my favorite projects have been those I just jumped into without a fully-formed plan or really even knowing what I was doing. This dog pillow is one of those. This post will be part tutorial and part—I hope—encouragement for you to go ahead and start that project you’ve been putting off for whatever reason. 

A few months after John and I moved into our first house, we adopted Zoey. She came from a rescue about 6 hours away, which was way out of the search radius I’d set, but there was just something about her. Her foster mom was kind enough to meet us halfway two weekends in a row to complete the adoption process. She was my dog from the very start.

Zoey was with us for 14 years and helped us raise all of our babies. She lived to be at least 16 or 17, so she had a good, long life, but the loss was still hard. Every once in a while one (or more) of us will have a rough time, and it was during one such time that I talked to my youngest about making a “Zoey pillow.” I had no idea what that would look like, but I was determined to figure it out.

This was one of those times where I just needed to go to JoAnn’s to see what I could find in the way of inspiration, and boy did I find it!

By default, I always look at the fabric remnants. You never know what you’ll find there. I happened to find this gray fabric that was PERFECT. It legitimately feels like Zoey did right after she got groomed each time. It’s a luxe fleece, and it is so soft.

I also found the perfect fabric for her ears. It was much more expensive, but I didn’t need much of it. To be more accurate, I probably should have used that fabric for her whole face. But I only wanted to use it for her ears.

I also bought a spool of thread, and the entire cost was $11! I could easily make another Zoey out of what I have left, too.

As excited as I was about this project, this is where it stalled. For about 6 months. I don’t know why, except that I truly did not know what I was doing, and I think I was afraid of messing up. How can you mess up when you don’t even know what it’s supposed to look like? I don’t know. My head is a confusing place sometimes.

Finally I decided to just go for it. It had taken me forever to settle on a pattern—I’d drawn a bunch of different ones that I wasn’t happy with, and ultimately I decided to use Zoey herself as a pattern! I used a photo of Zoey and Canva to make it big enough and able to print out on four sheets of paper. Then I taped them together and cut them out to make a pattern that I was happy with.

I was a little concerned that if I cut out two pieces and sewed them together that it would end up being too skinny, so my daughter suggested that I make “walls” for the pillow. Brilliant! I folded the fabric so I could cut out two Zoeys at once, and then I cut a strip of fabric for the sides of the pillow. (I actually cut two strips, but I only needed one.)

Perhaps unsurprisingly, I couldn’t decide how I wanted to make the face, so I sewed the strip of fabric onto the bottom of the pillow first. I sewed it all by hand, so it took a while. Thankfully, Hallmark is running Christmas in July movies, so I wasn’t too bored. I left a gap where the two ends of the strip met so that I could turn it right side out later.

To make the face, I settled on felt. I used brown and black for her eyes, and then I sewed a little white dot in each eye to give her a little more personality. I used black felt for her nose, and black thread for her mouth. I’m not 100% sold on the mouth, but I think it turned out okay.

To get the shape right for the ears, I held the Zoey pattern up to the window and traced the ears onto paper. I used that as the pattern for cutting the furry fabric.

I sewed the ears onto the front piece. The top and sides were caught in the fabric when I  ultimately sewed everything together, but the edges framing her face I sewed as close to the edge as possible. The fabric is so shaggy that you don’t see the edges unless you’re looking for them.

Once I was finally, finally happy with the face, I finished sewing the pieces together. The hole ended up being so small that I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to turn it right side out, but it was no problem.

Stuffing the pillow was more of a challenge. Getting stuffing into her face was especially challenging. But I did it! I used a long, thick pen to help with the trickiest spots.

Then I sewed up hole, attempting to use hidden stitches. I wasn’t totally successful, but it works.

My daughter suggested that I put Zoey’s actual collar on the pillow, but 1) I couldn’t find it (I know I have it) and 2) I was afraid it wouldn’t be as cuddly with a real collar. So I decided to make one. The collar I’m most attached to (see Instagram for that story) is blue with rainbow stars, and I did my best to replicate it using felt.

The finishing touch was a bandana. I didn’t even realize how many bandanas Zoey wore until I was looking back at photos of her. For the pillow, it also helps balance out all of the gray on her body. I might go back and hem the edges, but for now I cut a triangle out of a fat quarter and tied it around the neck.

That’s how I made my Zoey pillow. My whole family seems to love it. I am by no means an expert at sewing, but every once in a while I decide to take on a project that some might consider overly ambitious. Every time I do, I’m pleasantly surprised! 

So I say go for it! Even if you don’t know exactly what you’re doing, give it a try and see what happens. Maybe it’ll turn out even better than you imagine.

Have you ever jumped into a project like this and just figured it out? Let me know in the comments below!

Happy crafting!