Fun Giant Hand Throw Pillow

These unique hand throw pillows are a perfect for DIY sewing project for beginners or experts. Your finished hand pillow is sure to add a touch of whimsy to your home decor and make your couch or bed the place you want to be. This giant hand pillow is epic and you will have so much fun making this. Get your sewing pattern for this beginner-friendly sewing project here.

Tools

• Ruler
• Sewing Machine
• Iron
• Lighter 
• Sharpie or fabric pen
• Pins
• Sewing Needle
• Seam ripper
• Sharp Fabric Shears 
• Washer or Weighs (optional)
• •• Wood stir spoon (to insert stuffing into the fingers of the mini hand)

Materials

• 2.75 yards (2.5 meters) fabric for the hand
• 24” x 5” (61cm x 13cm) piece non-stretch velvet for nails
• 12” x 42” (30.5cm x 107cm) fabric for the ruffle 
• Matching thread 
• 12lb (5kg) pillow stuffing

First, download the paper pattern for this hand pillow. It is available in both US Letter and A4 paper size.

First time using a digital sewing pattern? Please watch this video.

Open the PDF.

You can use a free Adobe Reader program. If you do not have this program already on your computer, please download it here.

Print out the first page and make sure that Scale (not Scale to Fit) is selected at 100%

Once you have verified the correct sizing on the first page, proceed to print all the additional pages.

Cut the paper patterns on the dashed lines. Then line up the black triangles to create diamonds and tape the pages together.

Once you have taped all the pages together, cup out the hand, nail and ruffle patterns.

First, determine the right and wrong sides of your fabric. Generally, it is easy to figure this out. The right side has brighter colors, is shinier, and looks 'right.'

However, if it is difficult to determine the right and wrong sides with your fabric, just choose a side that you like as the right side and stick with that.

Next, fold your fabric in half with the wrong sides facing out.

Use an iron to create a crisp fold and remove any fabric wrinkles.

Place the hand pattern along the bias of the folded fabric. This will add a small amount of stretch to your pillow and will look better overall when you stuff the pillow.

*Bias cut means to 'be cut on the grain'. Rather than following the straight line of the weave, the bias cut places the pattern at a 45° angle on the woven fabric. 

If you have washers or small weights, place them at the tips of the fingertips and bottom of the wrist so that the pattern does not move as you trace the pattern. 

Using a sharpie or fabric marker, trace the outline of the pattern.

Pin the two sides together along the inside edge, especially along the fingers and the ‘U’ shaped areas between each finger.

Carefully cut on the inside of the traced line.

You should now have two fabric hands that mirror each other. 

Tip: You will see the raw edge of this fabric so choose a fabric that will not easily fray. I use thick non-stretch velvet. 

Determine the right and wrong sides of your nail fabric.

Place the nail pattern on the wrong side of the fabric that you will use. 

Trace this pattern 5 times to create the 5 nails you will sew onto the fingers.

Using sharp fabric shears, cut on the inside of the traced lines. 

Lightly melt the edges of each nail with a lighter. Make sure to do this in a well ventilated space. 

Melting the edges of the nails does two things: 1.Prevents fraying and 2. Cleans up fuzzy edges

Tip: In this pattern, the ruffle is 3x as long as the edge of the wrist. If you are using a thinner fabric like tulle, you may want to increase the length of the ruffle.

If you need more help to create this ruffle, watch this video. I use a variation second method in this video to create my ruffle. 

Trace the ruffle pattern with a sharpie or fabric marker.

Cut out the ruffle pattern. 

Fold the pattern lengthwise with the wrong sides facing out. Pin and iron the seam for a crisp fold. 

With the wrong sides still facing out, sew the short ends of the fabric together with matching thread. Make sure to backstitch at the beginning and end of the seam. 

Trim the corners off the edges of the fabric carefully without cutting the sewed lines. This will make for a pointier edge of the ruffle. Make sure not to cut the sewed line. 

Turn the fabric inside out so that the right sides of the fabric are facing out.

Use a contrasting thread to create the ruffle. You will not see this thread when the pillow is complete, but it is important to see this thread as you are creating the ruffle.

Make sure you have a long tail of extra thread (about 10” or 25.4cm or longer) 

Set your stitch length to the longest possible length. My machine goes to 5 so I set it to that.

Without doing a back stitch, sew 1/4” or .63cm inside the long end of the fabric together. 

When you come to the end of the fabric, do not backstitch and again leave a long tail of extra thread (about 10” or 25.4cm or longer)

Holding one side of the thread, pull the fabric along the thread, bunching it up as you go. If the thread breaks, use your seam ripper to take out the broken thread. Sew with the long stitch length and try again.

Continue bunching up the fabric along the thread until it is about .5 in or 1.27 cm smaller than the width of the wrist.

Space out the ruffles to create even gathers.

Once your ruffle is the correct length with even gathers, sew a straight stitch along the same long stitch with your default stitch length (mine is 2.5 so I set it to that).

Tip: If your ruffle is a little too long, run the edge through the sewing machine again and bunch up the ruffles manually in small sections (about 1" or 1.5cm) at a time until it is the correct length.

Decide the orientation of your hand pillow (left or right handed). In this instruction, I create a left-hand pillow. 

Measure 1.5” or 3.8cm from the top of each finger.

Pin the nail so that it is centered. 

Once you have all your nails pinned to fingers, install matching thread in your sewing machine. 

Tip: We will sew very close to the edge of the nail, so make sure to take your time if you are a beginner.

Place the needle ⅛” from the edge of the nail

Make sure to backstitch when you start sewing at the corner of the nail.

Once you reach the other side of the nail, lift the presser foot without lifting the needle. Rotate the fabric around the needle to continue your stitch. 

When you have reached the end of the nail, backstitch again. 

Follow these steps for the other 4 nails.

Place the wrong sides of the hand pattern facing out.

On the wrist portion of the hand, sandwich the ruffle between the two hands with the raw edge of the ruffle slightly hanging out of the two pieces of hand fabric. 

Make sure to leave ¼” or .635cm space on the outermost sides of the ruffle.

Pin the wrist portion together with the ruffle sandwiched between the two sides of the hand pattern. 

Sew a straight stitch ½” or 1.25cm along the wrist portion, making sure to backstitch at the beginning and end of the stitch.

Pin the top corners of the ruffle onto one side of the hand pillow away from the edge of the hand pattern. Orient the pin towards the bottom of the wrist so that it’s easier to take out. This step will ensure that you do not accidentally sew the ruffle onto the edge of the hand.

With the wrong sides of the fabric still facing out, pin the two sides of the hands together. 

Using a sharpie, chalk or a fabric marker, mark off where to leave an opening to turn the pillow inside out and stuff the pillow. This is very important.

I usually leave a 8” or 20cm opening on the pinky side of the hand, but you can make it bigger if you need more room.

Once you have pinned the two sides of the hand pillow together, change the default setting on your sewing machine to make slightly shorter stitches. The default stitch on my machine is 2.5 so I set my shorter stitch to 2. 

These shorter stitches will make the seams stronger and will prevent seam ripping when you stuff your pillow. 

Start your seam on one side of the wrist and sew ¼” from the edge with your shorter straight stitch. 

Forward stitch and backstitch at the beginning and end of each sewing, especially at the edges of the opening.

Tip: Take your time when sewing the small ‘U’ shaped areas between the fingers. Lift the presser foot as needed to rotate the fabric around the needle to sew a smooth ‘U’ shape.

Once you have sewn around the edge of the hand (except for the opening), turn your pillow inside out. 

** If your forearms don’t fit into the fingers, turn the fingers inside out with a stir spoon.

Start stuffing your pillow from the furthest finger from the opening. 

Tip: Use small handfuls of stuffing to avoid lumps and ensure even distribution.

Work the stuffing into the fingers first and stuff them generously and press against the edges of the seams.  

** Use your stir spoon to stuff the fingers if your forearms don’t fit the fingers.

Once you have stuffed the fingers, begin stuffing the palm of the hand with small handfuls at a time.

Stop stuffing when you are satisfied with the firmness of your pillow. 

Tip: Occasionally punch down the stuffing in the pillow to ensure even distribution.

Get a sewing needle to manually sew the opening and make a double thread. 

Fold the hem of the opening inward. You want it to match the ¼” seam allowance on both sides of the stitch.

Follow this helpful Wikihow to learn the details of creating a ladder stitch to close your opening.

Use a ladder stitch to close the opening. 

This hand throw pillow is great to elevate your interior space and make your home yours! Great as a body pillow or a decorative throw pillow.

Get this PDF sewing pattern here.