Stuffed animal storage floor cushion

Do your kids have tons of stuffed animals and you don't know what to do with them? Well, mine does, and she is not even three yet! She actually never really plays with them (yet?) and they are just laying around all over the place. I was searching the internet for some storage ideas, and came across this fun idea here - A big pillow that you can store all the stuffed animals in, but also use as a sitting pillow. How fun!

I also remembered a floor cushion tutorial that I pinned a while back, and never got around to making, and then I thought, hey, I might as well give this a try!

So I thought up in my head how I could make it work, and this is what I came up with.

The fabric I used was left-over from drapes my mom made for Littleheart when she was born, and the clear plastic material is actually a tablecloth. I used an orange zipper, that does not match at all, but that is what I had laying around. Littleheart won't notice.

Anyway, I think this has a great double purpose, so hey- give it a try!

What you will need:

• Thick fabric (like home decor fabric), about 1-2 yards, depending on how big you make your pillow.
• Clear Vinyl
• Long zipper (mine was about 25" long)
• Pre-made piping or make your own.

Pattern

Make a large circle template, mine has a 22" diameter. 

Make a smaller circle template. The circumference should a few inches larger than the length of your zipper.

Cutting

Cut two of your large circles out of your fabric. 

Cut one long strip of the fabric, 9" wide and a bit longer than the circumference of your big circle.

Cut your handle pieces at 3" x 12" (like in this tutorial).

Prepare your top circle

Take your top circle and cut a hole into it, using your smaller circle template.

What you do is fold your fabric and your small circle template in fourths. Place the small circle template on the fabric, so that the corners match up and pin in place. Now cut along the edge of the small circle template. 

Open up your fabric and you have your hole. Your top circle should look like a doughnut.

Cut your clear vinyl 1” larger than your smaller circle template, all around.

Now it is time to sew your zipper on. You need to sew one side to you vinyl and the other side to the inside of your doughnut.

Open your zipper and pin the first side of the zipper to the clear vinyl piece.Sew it on. 

Then pin it to the inside circle of your top circle piece. Sew it on.

Close the zip.

Now pin the leftover part of the vinyl to the leftover part of the doughnut (right sides together) and sew together. 

Sew the beginning of the zipper and the end of the zipper perpendicular to the edge of the circle to secure.  

Now you have a top circle with a window and a bottom solid circle.

You are now ready to sew up your pillow. Go to the original tutorial and follow the instructions. Obviously you do not have to leave an opening free for stuffing, since you have your little window! Let me know how it turns out!

You can sit on it...

And store your stuffed animals in it!

Happy Sewing!