Pillow Box Template to Print, Cut and Fold

Lay what goes inside on the table and measure it. The box’s length is end to end, between the corners where the curved ends meet the sides; the width is across, between the side folds; the depth is the thickest part, in the middle.

Inside, the ends curve in, so a flat card can be just under the length of the box less its depth. The table lists every ready size with the largest flat card it holds and its flat sheet. For a size of your own, type it in inches or millimeters and the free pillow box template draws the box from there.

A pillow box’s panels bend into arches, and each end flap is its panel folded back on itself. Each end crease bows into its panel exactly as far as the closed box stands off its middle, half the depth less half a board, so the depth alone sets the curve.

Where a crease meets the corners it slopes at most 45°; steeper, the end flaps could not stand up to close. That holds the depth to about half the width: a 3.5 in wide pillow box template goes up to 1.7 in deep, and deeper sizes are drawn at that depth with a note in the Checks tab.

Score every dashed line with a bone folder or an empty ballpoint pen, guiding it along the curves slowly. Fold along the straight creases, put glue on the glue flap and press it inside the front, so the pillow box lies flat like a sleeve.

Squeeze the sides so the panels bow out. At each end, push the back flap in along its curve first, then fold the front flap over it; the two flaps meet the far panel and close the end.

A pillow box is one piece: a front and a back panel with a lens-shaped end flap at each end of each, and a glue flap along one side. On the pillow box template the front lies on top, the back below it and the glue flap at the bottom.

The front’s end flaps carry the thumb notches and close outside, so they show; the back’s end flaps tuck in under them. Every panel name and size is on the flat sheet.

Curved creases bend best in card that is not too thick. 65 lb card stock, about 0.22 mm, prints on a home printer and curves smoothly, and 80 lb card is a little stiffer for a box that travels.

A print shop uses 14 to 18 pt board for pillow boxes. Board over about 0.5 mm makes the Checks tab suggest scoring each curve twice, so the curves fold without cracking.

The print PDF is for a home printer at actual size, with the folding steps in front. A pillow box that fits the page prints whole, and a larger one prints over pages to tape together. The print shop PDF has a 1/8 in (3.175 mm) bleed following every cut line, the curves too, a safe area, the glue flap free of ink and a notes page with the sizes.

The pillow box template also downloads as an SVG for a cutting machine, with named cut and score lines and the curved scores as smooth curves, as a DXF and as a PNG. Every ready size fits a 12 × 12 in mat.

Yes. Every size, every curve and every file is a free pillow box template, with no signup and no watermark. Save the box in this browser, in a project file or in a free account, and come back to change it.

For other shapes, the dieline generator draws tuck end boxes, boxes with lids, mailer boxes and bags, the hexagon box template makes a hexagon box with a lid, and all box templates are in one library.

After a download, Design with AI opens AI packaging design in Auto mode: describe the colors, the pattern and the words, then place the result on the front, the back or the end flaps in the Design section.

You pay only for the designs you receive. For a logo, a name or a label, the Design section adds them right on this pillow box template, and the 3D view bends them with the panels.