Want to meditate and do more yoga in the new year? Learn how easy (and inexpensive) it is to make your own zafu meditation pillows. Get started!! Follow the easy, illustrated instructions at FineCraftGuild.com and make your own zafus! OM!!!!
What’s a Zafu?
A zafu meditation pillow is a firm, high cushion that is specially designed for seated meditation and certain types of yoga. Call it meditation pillow, meditation seat or meditation cushion …, the official term is ‘zafu’. Or zafus for plural.
How to Make Your Own Zafu Meditation pillow
Free Sewing Tutorial with Instructions to make zafus *!
Materials Needed to make your own Zafu Meditation Pillow
Fabric
It’s best to use organic cotton fabric
- One fabric Length of 59 inches, 6 inches to 9 inches wide (depending on how high you would like your cushion to be).
- Two circles of fabric, each with a diameter of 11 – 13 inches (depending on how large around you would like your cushion to be.)Absolute Novice Tip: when you buy fabric, often it’s folded double on the bolt. So, what looks like 30″ is really 60″ wide. Hurray!
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The Best Filling for Zafu Meditation Pillows
You’ll need Kapok fiber for your pillow filling (or buckwheat hulls for a firmer seat. Click this orange image to order your kapok now:
USE our exclusive Carolina Morning discount code of 0012310. YOU will get 5% off your first order if you do. Plus, they give us a little kick-back too. We both win. Thank you for using our Carolina Morning discount code. How Much Kapok do you need??Free Step-by-step Tutorial to make your own Zafu Meditation Pillow
- STEP 1. Pleat the length of cloth. I suggest you make 3/4″-pleats, 3 inches apart.To clarify: this is how that will work out over the width of your fabric:
- PLEAT 1: 6.5 + (3 x 0.75) = 8.75″ of fabric
PLEAT 2-10: For each of these 9 pleats: (3 + (3 x 0.75))= 9 x 5.25″ = 47.25″
PLEAT 11: the closing overlap = about 3″
Total: 58.5, and with 2 seam allowances of 0.25″ that makes 59″ (i.e. the width of your fabric).How To Pleat
a) Beginning from the left edge of the length: mark your 0.25″ seam allowance first, and a stretch of 6.5″. - Now start your first pleat : make three marks, 3/4 inch apart, thus marking out the first pleat, and fold and pin your pleat.
Now you’ll have a 0.75″ fold-over section, that took 3x 0.75″ of fabric. - Second section: 3 inches after your first pleat, begin your second, as indicated above.
- Continue doing this till you have used up the width of your fabric. When you finish, the last pleat marking should be about 3″ from the right edge, and allow you a 0.25″ seam. (If you wish to have narrower pleats, of course, simply increase the number of pleats.)
b) Next, iron the pleats and pin them. They should all be folded and ironed in toward the left-hand side. For each set of pleat markings, fold the third in toward the first as shown, and then pin as shown at below:
- STEP 2. Now, having completed the first step, take the right edge of the pleated strip cloth and pin it to the left end of the strip, so you’ll get a nice, evenly pleated tube. Right?
- STEP 3. Pop the round tube onto 2 layers of fabric. Mark each circle of fabric within the tube, at four equidistant points.
- Separate the two pieces of fabric with the ‘circles’, i.e. put the pin marked on each of them individually.
- Turn your pleated tube inside out. Pin each circle to the pleated tube, one circle to the top edge and one to the bottom edge, at each of the four points, as in the picture.
- You can use a round object to help you create a circle marking onto the fabric (and then you can cut it… while adding a .25″ seam allowance everywhere around the circle. Or, just leave the extra fabric for now, and cut it off at the end of your project. This way, there won’t be any novice mistakes… ;-)
- STEP 4. Next, pin all pleats into the circles, top and bottom. Sew the circles to the length of cloth:
- STEP 5. Turn inside out and stuff with kapok or buckwheat hulls (through opening in the side that the zafu will have) It’s best to use a lot of stuffing material. Kapok will slowly compress with use and buckwheat hulls eventually breakdown:
Sew a zipper in the opening so you can easily refill it as and when needed.
* Our pattern is adapted from “To Forget the Self: An Illustrated Guide to Zen Meditation” by John Daishin Buksbazen, published by the Zen Center of Los Angeles; an out-of-print book.
Namaste!
How to Make a Zafu Meditation Pillow – NEXT STEPS
How much Kapok or Buckwheat Hulls to make this zafu?
Where to buy Kapok or Buckwheat Hulls to make your own zafus, or buy ready-made zen meditation pillows, zabutons and futons
Why buy kapok rather than cotton?Eco-friendly Cushions, Pillows and Beds
You can also buy ready-made zafu meditation pillows at Caroline Morning. If you mention FineCraftGuild.com in the ‘where did you hear about us’-box and use our Carolina Morning coupon code of 0012310, your 5% discount applies to everything you order: $6 worth, $60 worth, or $600 worth!
Mention FineCraftGuild.com and USE CODE 0012310 to order now.
Or just browse and have fun.
Those would be great to have sitting around for game night! Great tute! Thanks for posting … I’ve added a link. Check it out and add a few links of your own!
Hi, I want to make a zafu for my husband – does anyone know roughly how much kapok I will need (by weight) to fill it if I’m using this pattern?
Thanks
I don’t know, but I am asking around for you and will let you know when a smart person answers me with what you need to know. Meanwhile, I have 2 considerations for you:
1. Kapok is light weight, and it expands when warm, say, when in the sun. So, you will want to consider that.
2. I know that Kapok is a healthy material, so it is ‘approved’ ha ha …. but seriously, I’d like you/all readers to consider making a recycled materials center, such as old clothing, towels, or similar.
My uncle is impossible to find gifts for. He spends 4 hours a day meditating. This is perfect!! Thanks so much for the idea!
where can i find a paper pattern for a zabuton and a zafu? with a pattern I can digitize it and make them to the size I need. thank you
My pleats are all 3/4″ deep. Each pleat is 3″ from the next. I got 12 pleats out of 59 “, not 14.
I had to enlarge pleats, not ease the fabric, in order to fit the pleated strip to an 11” circle.
QUESTION: With this pattern, will buckwheat hulls stay inside, not spill out of the slit?
In step one, marking out the pleats, im having trouble ending up with 14 pleats and with 3 imces on the right side. Does it say start with “six and one half inches” from the left or does it say start “six to one, half inches from the left. I always end up with 12 pleats and less than two inches on the right. My cloth is ~60 inches long. When you do the math, this makes sense. 59 – 6&(1/2) = 52&(1/2) divied by (3 inches + (2*(3/4))) <12. Maybe i am understanding this completely wrong. Someone please explain? Thank you!
Thanks for sharing this tutorial—these are not very easy to locate online!
I have featured this on my blog post, 7 Tips for Creating a Sacred Space in Your Home, and have linked back to your page.
This is awesome!!! Thank you for sharing this tutorial. It looks easy very easy, i wonder if it’s really easy to make when in real situation. :) Anyhow, i really love to meditate with cushions underneath because it gives me comfort and relaxation. Thus, making me concentrate with my meditation and achieve mindfullness and enlightenment at the end of the day.
How nice ! My husband started meditating, so it will be a really nice gift :)
Thanks for your tutorial !
I have a question: how much kapok do I need for one cushion? I mean about 1 pound, 5 pound or 10? more?
Thanks again.
Bonjour Bene!
Thank you for your comment on the blog! How nice a gal you are for making a meditation pillow for your husband. He’ll love it. Zafus are so comfortable. You too will love having this pillow around. You’ll see.
How much kapok do you need??! I anticipated your question and dedicated ANOTHER FULL ARTICLE on the topic of where to buy the kapok (and how much): Here it is: https://finecraftguild.com/kapok-filling-meditation-pillow/
And do buy your kapok from Carolina Morning. They are THE NICEST folks on the internet. Tell them I (Rose, FineCraftGuild.com) send you, with my promo code 0012310, and you can get yourself a nice discount.
Salut!
Rose
https://finecraftguild.com
Hi Lindzy and Carole,
You are right! I have adapted the original pattern to omit this error. Thank you for the heads up!
Rose
Fine Craft Guild
Hi Patrick, you will have to make your own paper pattern for your zafu. It is easy! Just use the measurements in this article.
Rose
Fine Craft Guild
You are welcome, Leslie!
Rose
Fine Craft Guild
Loved your tutorial! Out of all the ones floating around online I ended up following this one and my meditation pillow came out awesome, thank you! Will be sharing on my page and linking to you :)
Thanks, Laura! That is VERY nice feedback to get. More tutorials of this nature will follow also! Namaste! Rose (PS Thanks for linking back too! appreciated!)
I made two cushions using this pattern. I found that it’s easiest if you sew the zipper into the long piece of fabric before doing anything else. Then you can hide it in the pleats.
Thank you for these easy to follow instructions!
Hi Rose!
I found beautiful fabric in Botswana (fabric is from Zambia). It is polyester. Is that okay?
How long does this take? Good starter project? I’m a novice.
:))
Sarah
Hi Sarah,
I think that you should stick with a natural fiber if you want to use it for meditation. It’s ok as a beginners project who has done one or two little things before. As well, I’m going to recommend a course to you. HOld on… I’ll get it to you
Hi Rose, Thank you for this! I’m not clear on whether the pleats should be sewn in before easing/pinning the long piece to the top and bottom circles. Can you clarify? Also, is there a tutorial for making an inner cover to hold the kapok/buckwheat hulls (so you can take the outer cover off for washing)?
Thanks again!
Catherine
Hi Catherine
you could give them a stitch to secure it, but honestly with the marking and the pinning, you should be fine.
My mom, however, …. would ALWAYS pre-sew things with special easy to remove / breakable cotton thread, in giant stitches, just so that it would come out perfectly.
I on the other hand, always just wings it, and well, my stuff looks more casual and lived in, and her stuff looks perfect. So perfect, I always want to mess it up a little.
So the moral of the story is: whether you pre-pin/pre-stitch your zafu meditation pillow or not, it will both be fine!
Hi Vanessa, just hyperlink to it. Easy and thank you in advance for doing so. I appreciate your complements. So nice to here. I hope our projects work out well for you.