Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Travel Pillow


So, I travel occasionally for work and my boyfriends' mom has made these little pillows.  Instead of begging her to make me one, I thought I'd give it a try.

Warning: Be prepared to do a good cleaning on your machine after this project as feather tend to float and get everywhere.  :)  It's worth it though.

So, I started by folding the pillow in half and pinning two rows down the middle.  (I didn't really figure out a trick to not getting feathers everywhere when sewing, but pinning does make things easier).
I pinned the pins going opposite directions so that they'd be easier to remove as I sew.
Then I cut down the middle between the rows of pins.  (If you can pull some of the bigger feathers out at this point, it will help you later.  Especially the ones that might make your sewing machine angry).

Next, I basted the open end, removing the pins as I sewed.  Putting an extra row of pins in to hold the feathers down.  is really helpful.  After basting this, go ahead and pull out any big feather or sharp feather that are sticking out of the end.

Then, I used the serger stitch on my sewing machine to close up the the end and reinforce it.
Voila, you have 2 cute little pillows!

Next, you want to make a pillow case.  I made a really simple one.  The first step is to measure the pillow.
I got roughly 38" x 24." I have to admit, I ended up eye-ing it more than measuring it.  I generally make less mistake that way.


I cut out a rectangle of fabric on the fold that fit around the pillow nicely with a little extra space on the end.  The pillow case shouldn't be the exact same size as the pillow.  I turned the end of the pillowcase down and added some of my grandmother's lace on the end of the pillowcase.  
 

This was a really quick and easy project, that I feel had a great result!  I can't wait to use my pillow on my next trip!

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