In todays’ post: Learn how to make a portable “pillow bed” for your kids – perfect for spending nights at Grandma’s house or just lounging at home.
You might be asking yourself: what in the world is a pillow bed, and why would I want one? Well, a pillow bed is a pretty much just what it sounds like: a portable bed made of pillows that are connected in a row. It’s a nice way for kids to have a comfy place to sleep when they are spending the night at someone’s house without worrying about blowing up an air mattress. Pillow beds also work well as loungers for watching TV or reading books.
Best of all: kids love them! A pillow bed is a fantastic homemade gift idea.
You can make a pillow bed by sewing 4 or 5 pillowcases together, and then sewing velcro at the end of each pillowcase to keep the pillow inside. However, to keep this project as cheap and easy as possible, I ditched the pillowcases and velcro and used one flat sheet instead. Fold the sheet and sew a few straight lines and you are done!
I made a pillow bed for each of my two youngest kids. The main living area of the house we’re renting is all laminate flooring, so these pillow beds make a cozy spot for them to lounge around together.
The secret to a cheap & easy pillow bed is a twin size flat sheet. Walmart sells them in a wide range of colors for $5 or $6 each. They also sell basic pillows for $2.50 each, making a 5 pillow bed under $20. It’s a perfect handmade Christmas gift.
How to make a kids’ pillow bed
Start by laying out your sheet on a flat surface right side down (a table is easier than the floor). Your sheet should be 66 inches wide by 96 inches long. You’re going to fold in each side along the dotted lines in the diagram below. You want the final width of the pillow bed to be about 27 inches, so if your sheet is exactly 66 inches wide, you’ll fold in 19.5 for each side. (The sheets I bought varied a little in width –Â so I just adjusted how much I was folding in to get a final width of approximately 27 inches.)
This diagram shows what the sheet will look like once folded. The right side was folded in first, then the left side, which overlaps the right. The overlap means we won’t have to add any velcro to keep the pillows in place.
Pin the sheet together across the top and bottom. Then you’ll want to pin 4 more lines, each approximately 19 inches apart. It would be easiest to mark these lines with tailor’s chalk or something similar. It’s not necessary that they are exact, just try to space them as evenly as you can. Use lots of pins!
Take the sheet to your sewing machine and sew a line of straight stitching along each row of pins, backstitching and the start and end. I found it was easiest to sew one end first, then roll the sheet from that end up to the next row of pins, then sew that row and roll again. This kept the sheet from getting all bunched up as I sewed:
It only takes 6 seams, and you have a pillow bed cover ready to go! There will be 5 sections that are each much like a pillow sham. Stuff a pillow into each section, and you’re done.
Looking for more easy sewing tutorials? Check out these posts:
How to make a half circle skirt
The Play-All-Day dress (easiest girls’ dress pattern)
The easiest way to make a women’s tee
Wendy Carter says
Thank you for sharing this idea. I Love love this….it was easy. Made one for the grand daughter and another one for myself. The second one took 1 hour to make.
rachel says
Thank you so much for this awesome how-to! I made these for my niece and nephew (10 and 7) who were visiting me, and they absolutely loved them! After making them, I decided 5 pillows long was very long and heavy, so I cut the last rectangle off, re-stitched, and made them a 4-pillow version.
They slept with them in the bed, they dragged them out into the living room to snuggle in the floor or on the couch, they made forts and things to jump over. I got lots of credit for a very easy project!
Irma says
Awesome!! I’m making some for my grandkids!! Thank you!??
Micki says
I need to make a replacement cushion pad for our old porch swing – it’s not produced any more, and not a size used currently. I think I could modify this a bit & make a replacement cushion pad. Heck of a lot cheaper than having one made for me, which is what I was nearly resigned to doing. Thanks for the idea!! Looking forward to trying it out!
Marge says
Micki, good idea. I have to make some new cushions also but I bet you could use a sturdy vinyl tablecloth.
Then it would be waterproof for outdoors.
Jane says
You advised sewing the seems 19 inches apart. All of the pillows I have seen are 20 inches. Does this pose a problem with the pillow fitting?
Debbie Luster says
If pillow is 20 inches and the slit is only 19 inches, will it work? If no how do I make it work?
Wendy Carter says
Because the pillows have a lot of give from the polyester filling you can stuff them in and then reshape them once you get them in. I made two with standard size pillows and the 19 inches still work.