Breastfeeding Pillow Case Pattern

Making your own breastfeeding pillow case is really easy to do and will save a ton of money too. I'm a huge fan of the crescent shaped breastfeeding pillows (Boppy anyone??). I pretty much carried mine around with me in the wee months of babyhood. They also got filthy. Frequently. I felt like I was constantly washing my one cover and an hour out of the dryer it would be covered in spit up all over again! So I began making my own slipcovers. And they worked out awesome!

Besides the fact that I could bust out like 5 of these bad ass slip covers in a matter of hours, I saved sooo much money on them. I bought flannel in the clearance fabric rack, and the sale items (50% off y'all). But my absolute fave were the slipcovers I created with a super fuzzy fleece material on the. I splurged just a tiny bit and bought the super soft sherpa fleece and sewed my covers with the fleece on one side and flannel on the other. Oh how I loved those covers! And baby did too! My lil' one got to snuggle up in the softest comfiest spot ever!

DIY Breastfeeding Cover (Will Fit Your Boppy)

I want to show you how to make a slip cover for most any breastfeeding pillow you might have. I made this breastfeeding cover pattern to fit my Boppy. I'm willing to bet many of you are probably using the Boppy pillow too.

What you will need:

1 1/2 -2 yards of Fabric
matching thread and needle
velcro, snaps, or buttons

I've provided the pattern above, but making your own pattern can be very, very simple. All you need do is either trace you pillow onto an open sheet of newspaper, or trace your slipcover. 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 breastfeeding pillow case just remember to trace the shape slightly larger to leave a seam allowance. You don't want that cover to come out too small!

The Super Simple Version

This version of the tutorial is for a super simple cover with only two pieces of fabric to work with. Use this if you are choosing to simply trace your breastfeeding pillow to create the "pattern". Make sure and trace an extra inch or so for seam allowance and for placing snaps or velcro.

Place your fabrics down flat on your work surface with right sides facing 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 or use pattern weights. 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 with about a 1/2" or so seam allowance, leaving an opening for placing your breastfeeding pillow in and out of the cover.

Along the opening fold the fabric back on both sides and iron flat. Sew a hem about 1/4" from the edge. You can then apply a piece of velcro for keeping it shut, use some snaps or buttons.

Turn the slipcover right side out and iron the seams flat and you're done! put the breastfeeding slip cover onto your pillow and get ready for some baby bonding time!

Using My Printable Breastfeeding Pillow Cover 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 I did using my breastfeeding cover pattern.

breastfeeding pillow pattern Print the pattern three times and tape the pieces together to form the pattern. Cut the pattern out to form three separate identical pattern pieces.

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 similar to a Boppy pillow cover.

make boppy breastfeeding pillow cover

make breastfeeding 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 and 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 case 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.

breastfeeding pillow

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 sew these edges in place to create a hem.

breastfeeding pillow

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. First place the top of the cover, and then lay the bottom piece over the others. Pin them all together to hold in place.

Sew a seam along 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 velcro. Slip your breastfeeding pillow into the cover and you are done!

homemade breastfeeding pillow cover tutorial