How to Make a “Letters to Santa” Reading Pillow
Create a fun “Letters to Santa” Christmas Pillow using our Reading Pillow Sewing pattern. Your kids will love placing notes to Santa Claus in the large front pocket all season.
Years ago (eleven years to be exact), I got the idea to add a pocket to the front of a pillow to create a simple gift to give to my nephews. The first pillows I made were made out of polar fleece, and I gifted them to them for Christmas with a few of our favorite books and a flashlight for some late-night reading.
Not fully satisfied with the fleece version I designed, I decided to create one of quilting cotton. The “On the Go” Reading Pillow was born! I had no idea it would take off the way it did. Now a “reading pillow” is a “thing”! Not just a pattern.
There are many imitations of my original pattern, which has been hard for me to watch over the years. One person even gave their pattern the SAME NAME. I mean, if you’re going to copy someone’s pattern, at least change the name, LOL!
Last Christmas, I decided to turn the pillow into a “Letters to Santa” pillow. I didn’t get it done in time to share it with you for the Holiday season, but I’m excited to be sharing the idea this year.
About the Sewing Pattern
The large front pocket on the pillow is the perfect place to stash a few letters to Mr. Claus. Since it’s soft, the pillow can also double as a Christmas pillow decoration to use during the Christmas season.
It would be nice to create one as a gift and give it to the recipient a few weeks before Christmas.
I’ll also be making a version of the pillow for Valentine’s Day.
The pillow is an 18″ square, and you have the option to add or subtract the piping and carrying handle.
The fabric on the pillow is Santa Claus Lane by Riley Blake. It came out last year and might not be available currently, but there are ALWAYS so many cute Christmas fabric lines featuring Santa Claus; I’m confident you can find something fun in the shops this year.
How to Add the Lettering
The lettering on my pillow was cut out and added using the enclosed applique alphabet that came in the sewing pattern. I ended up cutting mine out of Flocked Iron-On Vinyl, but you can also make it out of felt or quilting cotton.
If you cut yours out of Flocked Iron-On, you can trace and cut the letters by hand or use a Cricut machine. It’s also straightforward to use my raw edge applique technique to add the letters to the front of the pillow with cotton or canvas fabric.
As I mentioned, the pattern comes with the alphabet, so all you need to do is cut out the “Letters to Santa” using that pattern!
NOTE: I made my letters slightly smaller than the 3 1/4″ tall letters that came with the pattern and printed them at 80% of their original size. (You can easily do this in Adobe Acrobat by changing the page scaling to 80%). In retrospect, I could have stuck with the original 3 1/4″ size. Whatever you do, it’s up to you.
Choose a font that you like in Design Space or from your computer. You can cut the letters from Iron-On Vinyl, Fabric, or Felt. You can also cut out the letters with a Cricut Machine.
How to Get the Pillow Pattern
You can find the pattern in our Pattern Shop! We have both printed and digital patterns available. You can also find the pattern in quilt shops around the country.
Reading Pillow Construction Tips
If you are going to make one of these pillows, I have a few tips for you.
I recommend creating the back of the pillow with a zipper (instructions are in the pattern). That way, you can quickly zip the cover on and off. All you need is one set of pillows, and you can swap out the covers seasonally. I’m not too fond of the envelope pillow back since I don’t think it holds the pocket for the pillow in place well. That is why instructions to create an envelope back are not included in the sewing pattern.
You can leave off the piping if it makes you nervous. Just skip those steps in the pattern and sew the pillow with a 1/2″ seam allowance. I challenge you to “try” the piping though, it’s not as hard to add as you may think.
I do not recommend adding interfacing or fleece to the back of the pillow.
If you prefer, you can also machine quilt your pillow front; do whatever suits you best.
This Letters to Santa Pillow would be cute as a gift with a set of Christmas stationery, a Christmas coloring book, and a bunch of pencils or crayons.
