Breastfeeding Pillow Case Pattern

Making your own breastfeeding pillow case is really easy to do and will save a ton of money too. I happen to use a Boppy pillow. I LOVE my Boppy pillow and use it for a variety of uses other than just breastfeeding. The only problem is that my Boppy covers got recalled. I sent them away to be replaced and well, never saw them again. Bummer. New slip covers cost like $15.00 a pop and since lately I am making everything by hand, I figured I might as well make my own Boppy covers too. I made my the cover I will show on this page for about $5.00 all together.

I want to show you how to make a slip cover for most any breastfeeding pillow you might have, although I will include the pattern I made for the Boppy pillow cover here too. Especially since many of you are probably using the Boppy pillow too. It's pretty popular!

What you will need:

• 1 1/2 -2 yards of Fabric

• matching thread and needle

• velcro, snaps, or buttons

  
  

Making your own pattern can be very simple. All I did was borrow a Boppy cover from one of my friends and trace it's shape onto some newspaper. The slip covers you buy in the store are just a little bit more complicated than what I will sew, but these handmade pillow cases do the trick just fine. They are just slightly roomier and not quite as fitted.If you choose to use the same method for making your own breastfeeding pillow case just remember to trace the shape slightly larger to leave a hem allowance. You don't want that cover to come out too small!

Simply place your fabrics down flat so they are facing right sides together (so the top of the fabric is facing inwards towards each other), lay your pattern down on top of the fabric and pin it in place. Now just cut out the shape using some good sharp scissors and remove the pattern, transferring the pins to the fabric itself. Now sew the outer edges of the cover leaving an opening for placing your breastfeeding pillow in and out of the cover. Go back and hem the edges of the opening. You can then apply a piece of velcro for keeping it shut, use some snaps or button or even a zipper. I will warn though that the reason my Boppy cover was recalled was because of the zippers.

Using my printable pattern

I chose to make my breastfeeding pillow case so that the opening to insert the pillow fell along the back of the pillow, and overlapped to keep it shut. I had to modify the way I would cut my fabric to get this result. Trust me it was still pretty easy. Here's how to make the same cover using my pattern.

I chose to use two different fabrics to make my cover. You can do the same or just use one fabric for the entire project. To create the piece for the front of the pillow lay the pattern on the fold of the fabric and pin in place. Cut out the shape. Unfold the fabric to reveal the shape of the Boppy pillow cover.

To make the back of the pillow cover you will need to modify the two other leftover pattern pieces. The first can be cut off at the top where pieces A & B end leaving the bottom half as is. The second should be cut off at about 10" from the top. Keep the top piece and discard the bottom.
You will be left with two pattern pieces. One for the top of the pillow and one for the bottom. When you lay them together you will have two pieces that form the shape of the Boppy pillow but overlap each other. Cut each piece out from the fabric separately laying it on the fold of the fabric.

Heat up a clothes iron to the appropriate temperature for the fabrics you are using for the back of the breastfeeding pillow case. Iron the overlapping edges of the back of the cover by folding them over about 1/4". Fold them over again on top of themselves and iron and pin in place. Next hem these edges in place.

Lay the front piece of the pillow case down facing right side up. Lay the back pieces down on top of this piece so the right sides are facing together. Start with the top of the cover, and then the bottom. Pin them all together to hold in place.

Sew the outer edges of the pillow cover about 1/4" - 1/2" from the edge. Sew all the way around to meet the hem on the other side. Turn the cover so the right sides are now facing out. To finish up sew on some buttons, snaps, or my favorite, velcro. Simply place around your Boppy breastfeeding pillow and you are done!

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