This is a personalized pillow order that came through my website.  Her niece's name wasn't something that you could find easily so she want something girly and personal. Her niece was young and I wasn't sure if it would be a decoration pillow or actually used, so I made it washable.

ESTIMATED COMPLETION TIME: About 90 minutes

ESTIMATED COST TO COMPLETE: $15-$30 depending on fabric choice (I had all the fabric on hand, so it didn't actually cost me anything.)

THINGS YOU'LL NEED:

Fabric for background (the actual pillow) This particular customer wanted the lettering and the pillow to match.
Contrasting fabric for background behind lettering
Fabric for the letters (if you don't want it the same as the pillow)
(She also wanted a bow, so I used ribbon)
 Basic fabric to enclose the pillow (this makes the "cover" washable)
Stuffing
Zipper
Scissors
Sewing machine
Needle and thread (Yes, there is a part where you'll have to (or not, I just didn't want my machine eating the stuffing) sew by hand.... GASP! J/k!)

(ADAPTATION: You could easily make this one of those keepsake memory pillows too.  Instead of using fabric for the letters, choose your child's favorite shirt or special item of clothing and cut the letters out of it.)


1. Pick out the fabric colors you want for each part.

2.  Cut out the letters to the name you want.  (I free hand them, but you could use stencils, a Cricut, just about anything)

3. Sew the letters to the background color.

4.  Sew the background (with letters attached) to ONE side of the pillow fabric.  (Since she wanted a bow (play on name there), I sewed a piece of black ribbon around the edge of the background color (which was nice for me because I didn't have to tuck the fabric under and was able to cover the "seam" with the ribbon) ensuring that the bow met in the middle and I had enough ribbon to make the bow and tails. This was going to be for a smaller child, so I didn't want the chance that the bow becomes untied and becomes a strangulation hazard.  So I tied the bow the way I wanted it to look and stitched it in place.  I went over those stitches a few times so that it wasn't coming undone!")

5. Turn the fabric inside out and sew the other side seam closed.  VERY important here, DO NOT sew any of the top or bottom pieces closed.  You should basically have a cuff now. 
 
6.  You're going to sew on the zipper now.  For mine, this still just looked like a piece of fabric lying on the table.  GOOD! Fold it in half and pin the zipper to the top (or bottom depending where you wanted it). I didn't want the zipper to get caught in hair, so I made a little "overhang" (real technical, I know) at the end, so the zipper head could be pushed up into it.

7.  Sew the zipper in place.  Turn the fabric right way out now.  At this point you should have three out of the four sides stitched up.  Unzip part of the zipper (not all the way and not too little that you can't fit your finger in to undo the rest).  Make sure your pillow looks right.  If there are any issues fix them now.

8. If there aren't any issues, go ahead and turn the pillow inside out again and stitch up the remaining seam.  This is why you've left part of the zipper undone, now pull the pillow through the zipper to return it to right side out.  You may need to pull out your knitting needles (or something similar) to get the corners out.  You've made the "pillow case."

9. I wanted the pillow to be extra fluffy and full.  So I made the inside pillow the same size as the pillow case.  This was a standard pillow.  I just took a plain black piece of fabric, folded it in half and sewn the two other sides in place.  I sewed about 2/3 of the last seem in place and then turned it right side out and stuffed it full of filling.  I then just stitched the rest of the seem by hand (I didn't want the stuffing get caught in my machine.)  Squish the pillow into the case, this will be a tight fit because it is so full, just work with it carefully.  Once you've squashed it in, zip up the pillowcase, and YOU'RE DONE!!!