Ultimate Chill Out Pillow Stuffed with Sewing Cabbage
Designer: Jedimanda
Instagram: @jedimanda
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Making the ultimate chill out pillow with sewing cabbage! 🥬
There are definitely sometimes that I just need a 5 minute break away from my sewing project, but in my case, I want to stay in my sewing room. Cue in my giant triangle pillow ready to be there when my head needs a rest. I will throw it on the floor, lay down and instantly I feel better. Besides the fact that I have a cool “chill out” pillow in my sewing space, it duels as a place I can put my “sewing cabbage”. No not actual cabbage, but sewing cabbage or fabric scraps as some know it. Sewing cabbage specifically is long strips of cut up unusable fabric. I make the cabbage for stuffing random projects I need stuffing for. The more you cut the cabbage, the smaller the amount of space is needed it store it, so needless to say, I have racked up large bags of cabbage just sitting in my sewing studio.
My sewing studio is a zero fabric waste space so I try to find various ways to use the unusable bits. This is by far my favorite stuffing for pillows. Let’s make one! Now let’s grab our favorite OLFA rotary cutter, mine is the 45mm quick-change handle, and chop some cabbage.
Tools:
- OLFA 45mm RTY-2/NS Quick-Change Rotary Cutter
- OLFA NCM-L 24" X 36" 3mm Double-Sided, Self-Healing Cutting Mat
To make the pillow, I used McCall’s home decoration pattern, M4123. I used fuzzy snuggle fabric from Shannon Fabrics and just followed the directions for the “B” pillow. The pattern itself is easy to follow and you can use practically any fabric to customize the look you want. I wanted a black and white and slightly spooky look to my pillow. The ends have snake embroidered netting over white snuggle fabric. I dig the look!
Now once you have completed your pillow, let’s start stuffing. Gather all your fabric scraps, grab your OLFA rotary cutter and start slicing on top of your OLFA self-healing mat.
I recommend slicing your fabric cabbage to be one inch wide or smaller. Keep in mind that the smaller your cabbage is the less space it will occupy in your pillow, plus it will be less heavy which tends to happen if you just use fabric cabbage for stuffing. Here is where I will suggest adding in some big puffs of poly fill stuffing in there as well. This will help take up space and have your pillow weigh less.
Once your pillow is stuffed, close it up! I will suggest having a zipper or velcro as your closure in your pillow so you can keep adding in more scraps after your projects.
This is a great way to be more sustainable with your sewing waste considering the amount of fabric that ends up in landfills all over the world. Best of luck with your cabbage making!
Happy sewing!
Jedimanda, OLFA expert
