Stuffed Animal Storage Pillow Pattern

If your kid has way too many stuffed animals, a stuffed animal storage pillow may be the solution.

The girl has a ton of stuffed animals. Some — OK, kind of a lot — of them were mine when I was a kid, and we were in the habit for a while of buying her Beanie Boos pretty regularly.

She has dolls and a stuffed bear that lived in my grandparents’ bedroom when I was growing up and a three-foot-tall stuffed sock monkey.

There are bags and baskets full. They are still everywhere.

So the other day when she asked if we could make a giant stuffed animal storage pillow, I was pretty excited to do it.

If you’re not crafty of course you can buy a stuffed animal storage pillowcase, but this is a super simple pattern, if you can even call it that, and if you know how to sew straight-ish seams you can make it in just a few minutes.

Supplies for Making a Stuffed Animal Pillowcase

• a flat sheet (I used a king-sized sheet that I had dyed for a fort building kit I made a few years ago)
• sewing machine and matching thread
• straight pins
• stuffed animals

Stuffed Animal Storage Pillow Pattern

If you wanted to be super fancy, you might iron your sheet, but let’s be real. Just fold the sheet in half down the middle front sides together so that what had been the hemmed top of the sheet is one short side.

Use straight pins to secure the other two sides — what was the bottom of the sheet, which is now the other short side, and what were the sides which now make one long side of the pillow case. Pin through the hems and just straighten the edges as best you can.

Use your sewing machine to sew inside the hems on both sides. You can do this as one long seam if you have enough thread in your machine. You’ll also want to backstitch at the beginning and the end of the seam.

(If you don’t already know how to turn a corner with your machine, sew to just about the end of one side. Stop, and manually turn the dial so the needle is in the fabric. Lift the presser foot and turn the fabric so it’s facing the right direction to continue the seam down the other side. Put the presser foot back down and continue sewing.)

Because the hemmed top of the sheet is left as the opening, it doesn’t really need any finishing. Just turn your pillowcase right side out. You could add some Velcro if you wanted, or you can just tuck the open end under the pillow if you’re worried about animal escapes.

Finishing the Stuffed Animal Pillowcase

Then just stuff your stuffed animal pillow full of stuffed animals.

This part took a good hour or so because she was sorting through her animals to find the softest ones, then she brought them downstairs a few at a time and stuffed them into the pillowcase individually.

She really enjoyed that part, as well as lying on the pillow to watch a movie.

I don’t think it was quite as stuffed as it could have been because the animals shifted while she was lying on it, but you can play with how stuffed you want yours to be by adding more animals.

This stuffed animal pillow storage idea is great for kids’ rooms and playrooms, or as a temporary lounge pillow elsewhere in the house (she built hers in our bedroom so it is definitely not staying there long term). She can easily dig out anything she wants to play with and everything has a place to go when she’s done. What could be better?

How do you deal with the hoards of stuffed animals? I’d love to hear your solutions!