Neckroll or Tootise Roll Pillow Tutorial

Thank you so much for all the sweet comments on the Tootsie Roll pillow from in my last post!

One of the greatest joys of doing what I do is working with other creative people. My client, Ann, found a picture of a similar neckroll pillow and we used scraps from some of her other projects to make this pillow. So I can't take all the credit! 

So if you'd like to make one of these yourself...here's the how-to. Beware: long post with lots of photos!

The first step is measuring your pillow form. You can use an existing pillow form or create your own. I suggest of you're planning to stuff the pillow with poly-fil, to make your own pillow form.  
This pillow measures 24" wide x 26" around (circumference) x 8" diameter for the end circles.

This particular pillow uses 4 fabrics. The main body of the pillow is constructed of three pieces...1 of the brown crinkle and 2 of the green cheetah plus a trim. The ruffle is made from a chocolate brown velvet and circle ends are created from a brown & cream damask.

layout of pillow fabrics

green cheetah - 8.5" x 26.5" each
brown crinkle - 9" x 26.5"
brown velvet ruffle - 5" x 40"
(ruffles cut @ 1.5x's fullness = 26" x 1.5 = 39")
brown/cream damask - 8.5" diameter circles

*Due to the thickness of the fabrics, I choose to make my ruffle 1.5x's fullness. You could definitely make your ruffle 2x's full if it was of a thinner fabric like a cotton or silk.

*I cut a separate piece of lining fabric to back the crinkle fabric (which is very stretchy) to stabilize it. This also helped the thickness of the crinkle to better match that of the cheetah. I stitched the two pieces together with a straight stitch around the other edges.

sewing backing to crinkle fabric

1. Sew trim to each piece of cheetah. Place trim 1/2" in from each end to allow for seams.

2. Sew the three pieces of center fabrics together.

3. At this point fold the fabric in half lengthwise to form a tube shape. You'll want to either either a) install a zipper or b) sew tube, right sides together, leaving an opening to insert pillow form. After pillow is complete you would whip stitch opening closed.
4. Install zipper in center and sew remaining ends of tube shape together. (See HERE for zipper installation instructions from my friend Polly at Make Mine Beautiful.) 

  wrong side of pillow with zipper installed

right side of pillow with zipper installed

5. Sew ruffle pieces together end to end creating a circle.

6. Fold ruffle in half lengthwise,wrong sides together, and topstitch closed at raw edge. (It now looks like a headband for a really big head!)

7. Now we're going to sew the ruffle to one end of the tube of fabric. Beginning with the back seam of pillow, pin or mark four spots equally spaced apart. Imagine this being a clock face and you're marking 3,6,9&12. (I'm marking the seam of my tube and bottom of pillow as 12 in all photos)

8. Mark your ruffle in the same manner.

9. Line up each marking on pillow fabric and ruffle, beginning with lining up seam on pillow and the seam on the ruffle, pin in place. I chose to hand gather my ruffle but if you'd like, you can gather your ruffle ahead of time.

 Stitch in place.

10. Stitch ruffle to opposite end.

Cutting Out Circles:

 Tutorial within a tutorial

Cutting out circles in a specific size can be a bit tricky. Unless I'm lucky enough to have a dinner plate the correct size, this is how I cut out my circles.

 Begin by cutting a square slightly larger than the size circle you need.

 Fold evenly in 4th's and pin to keep folds together. In this case the circle fabric had a distinct pattern. I chose where I wanted to cut the circle and made sure the pattern was correctly centered on the folds.

For this pillow my circle needed to be 8.5". Starting with the folded corner, measure 4.25" and mark with a pencil along the 1/4 of the circle. Cut along dotted line.

Voila! A perfect circle with a perfectly centered pattern.

 Because I needed 2 circles, I lined up the pattern from my newly cut circle on another square of fabric and cut my second circle.

 A perfectly matched pair of circles!

 Now, back to our regularly scheduled program...

11. Mark the circles with the "clock face" as well as the ends of your ruffled pillow. If your circle pieces are made from a directional fabric like this damask, be sure to align your fabrics the same on way each end.

12. Line up your 3,6,9,&12 on the end pieces, pin in place and stitch with the circle piece (wrong side) face up. (It's easier this direction.)

13. Clip curved edges to insure a smooth seam when turned right side out.

14. Repeat with opposite end.
15. Turn right side out. Insert pillow form. Close. And you're good to go!

Whew! Well, that took a while!
I hope this tutorial was clear and understandable. If you try making a neckroll using these instructions, please, let me know if something doesn't make sense and I'll try to explain it a bit better. Happy sewing! 

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