Skip to Content

DIY Shredded Memory Foam Pillow

Sharing is caring!

How to make a shredded memory foam pillow.

How to make your own shredded memory foam pillow quickly and easily. 

This post may contain affiliate links which may earn me commissions should you click through them and take certain actions. As an affiliate for Amazon, Cricut, xTool, Home Depot, and other sites, I earn from qualifying purchases. Please DIY carefully. View my full legal disclosures here.

Please read the whole post so you don’t miss any important information!

I have awful neck problems and have been in physical therapy for about three months. I have been working towards finding solutions to my neck pain- identifying the problems causing it and coming up with solutions.

One of the issues was my pillows. I haven’t been able to find one that works and I just can’t justify spending a billion dollars trying to find the right pillow. Plus, I already have too many pillows on my bed. I don’t want to waste money and environmental resources trying to find the perfect pillow.

I got a memory foam pillow at one point that was absolutely horrific. My neck was so much worse with it, but I gave it to my husband, thinking that it was just my typical neck issues. He ended up with a painful neck too after one night on it. And I haven’t been able to give this thing away.

So I decided to try upcycling it into a shredded memory foam pillow… and it worked out pretty well! Better yet, one solid memory foam pillow has the potential to make up to two shredded foam pillows.

Note: It would likely be cheaper to buy a shredded memory foam pillow than to purchase a regular memory foam pillow to cut up. This is more for those of you who hated your MF pillow and wanted to do something useful with it.

Supplies

  • A fabric you love. My fabric is a knit fabric, but you can use any kind you think would be comfortable to sleep on and easy to launder.
  • Memory foam pillow that you don’t mind cutting up
  • Scissors
  • Hook and loop

How to Shred Memory Foam to Make a Pillow

My pillow came with a pillowcase, as well as a fabric covering to the memory foam. I removed the pillowcase to save for another project and cut open the seam of the fabric covering. I removed the memory foam.

Then I just started cutting into smaller and smaller pieces. Once I got my pillow filled to the amount I liked, I closed it up and saved the pieces for another project. Now… originally I sewed it closed. Don’t do that. Instead, add some hook and loop so you can adjust your filling. It might take a couple of nights to figure out exactly how much memory foam pieces you want in there so it’s helpful to have a nice opening to add or subtract foam. I ended up taking a lot out.   

Finally, I decided to make my own pillowcase. It’s smaller than my other pillows due to the original size of the memory foam pillow I had so it wouldn’t fit into a normal pillowcase. I just cut some of my favorite Doctor Who custom knit fabric and sewed up a quick pillowcase (this tutorial was for a standard pillowcase, but you’ll want to adjust the size as needed for your pillow).

Now I’m fairly comfortable with my pillow and I didn’t waste any resources! Happy girl! I really like how I can adjust the foam for my neck at night. Regular pillows just don’t have that level of flexibility.

Love it? Pin it!

Easy to make shredded memory foam pillow.
memory-shredded-foam-diy
Yield: 1 Pillow

DIY Shredded Memory Foam Pillow

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Active Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Estimated Cost: $5-$10

See how easy it is to make your own shredded memory foam pillow with just a few supplies.

Materials

  • Fabric
  • Memory Foam Pillow
  • Hook and Loop

Tools

  • Scissors

Instructions

  1. Remove the pillowcase to save for another project.
  2. Cut open the seam of the fabric covering.
  3. Remove the memory foam.
  4. Start cutting it into smaller and smaller pieces.
  5. Add cut up memory foam to the pillow until it is filled with the amount you like.
  6. Add some hook and loop so you can adjust your filling.

Recommended Products

As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Did you make this project?

Please leave a comment on the blog or share a photo on Instagram

Sharing is caring!

Hannah Swann

Monday 12th of May 2025

Oh. My. Word. You are a woman after my own heart. I have spent hours looking for a home method of shredding latex because I spent an obscene sum on a latex pillow that's too high and also had the idea of shredding it. I've spent so much money on different pillows trying to solve my neck issues as well as therapists. The only one that was the right density and height was an adjustable shredded gel foam but the gases were literally wiping me out. So I'm going to snipping away today and hopefully sleeping well tonight for the first time in a long time. Thanks for your post xox

Laura

Sunday 27th of October 2024

I had the same annoying pillow and couldn’t use it. Did this, and it worked out great! I just put all the shredded pieces back in the original zip up case, and it naturally turned into a regularly shaped pillow despite the curved edges.

Danielle Pientka

Sunday 26th of January 2025

Very nice! It's a nice way to reuse them!

Roman

Tuesday 29th of November 2022

How to shred foam:

Cut it with scissors.

The title of this post is misleading.

Rose

Sunday 29th of May 2022

You don't need to make a pillowcase for this just get a pillow protector the one that zips and put the pieces of foam in it. Then cover it with a pillow case. It's a no dew project then.

mando

Friday 26th of July 2019

Hi Danielle and peeps,

I have been wanting to upcycle my memory foam pillow into a cushion but my dilema is that usually memory foam pillows or cushions have two protectors; one is the pillow case protector usually white and has a zipper for removing and washing, two is the protector that holds the memory foam, looks like a spider web or light mesh type, which is sealed but sometimes also comes with a zipper. I am looking for the material that holds the memory foam. Any ideas to recommendations on what material I can use to hold the memory foam? thanks and cheers

Danielle

Friday 26th of July 2019

Hm not really sure as I haven't seen it. The one I had didn't have a mesh interior. There's the mesh that people use for sports jerseys? Think that would work?

Skip to Instructions