Monday, September 16, 2013

Body Pillow Tutorial

Hello everyone! Here in North Indiana, it seems that the season suddenly turned into Fall. Today Highest 66°F, lowest 43°F. We will have some more warm days like a bit over 80 but definitely I can tell that the lovely Summer days started off from us.  I love Fall. I wish Fall could stay with us forever.  (I wish the same thing for Spring every year as well.) 

Anyway, I am going to share a quick tutorial for making a body pillow (it's called Huggy in this house) using an old blanket and a small amount of fabric. One day my daughter sew a body pillow on TV commercial or something and asked me to make one for her.

 This is the pillow I am sharing the tuto today.

I started constructing variety of possible materials I can think of for making it in my mind. It seemed very easy to make the shape of exterior with fabric. But if I need to fill that with fiber filling, how much should I buy it?  After awhile, when I was cleaning my daughter's bed, a MARVELOUS (at least I thought so) idea hit me.

Nina is modeling for me how to use her new pillow!
As you can see she is just pretending she is asleep, (she has her school uniform on yet!)
I edited the photo to look like she is in a dream......

This blanket has been with us at least seven years I believe. And it was already pretty much used since it was a hand-me-down from Nina's grandma. I have no idea how many years Grandma had it. So I needed to patch holes sometimes and even trimmed "Shabby" edges all around. That was worn-out pretty much. But on the other hand, it has gotten very soft so this was Nina's favorite blanket for years. Then, the (BIG) idea was to re-purpose this blanket as a filling of a body pillow.


I am going to show you how I make a blanket into a filling and how to make a fabric cover for it.

I folded and rolled the blanket. Than measure the dimension of the roll.

Stuff the blanket into the cover.

The cover is just a simple draw string bag with a round bottom. Only it is super loooooong.

Supplies ; ★An old blanket or quilt. (The size of my blanket is about FULL. If you have larger one, you will get a fatter pillow. The size doesn't mutter so much. If you thought the roll is too skinny, you could roll two blanket together for some more thickness.)
★Fabric which has nice and soft touch for your skin. (Mine was quilting weight 100% cotton.) The amount of fabric you will need is up to your blanket size. Please refer the measuring instruction below.
★Cotton cord. "a"x(3.14)+8" (Refer the measuring instruction below.)

How to fold and roll your blanket.

You need two measurement from your roll which are the diameter of bottom "a" and the length "b".

According to the measurements, make a paper pattern for the bottom using a compass. You don't need a paper pattern for the side since it is only a simple rectangular shape. Do not forget adding 3/8" seam allowance around. Cut a bottom and a side out of your fabric. Make zigzag stitches on both long sides of the side as you can see in the picture above.

Fold the side fabric in half with right sides together and sew the long sides . Leave a 3/4" opening for threading a draw string. Open seam and press.

Sew the bottom to the side.  Stitch zigzag around the seam.

 
Fold and press 3/8" from the top edge, then 3/4" from previous fold again. Sew around the top. turn the bag right side out and thread a cotton cord through the casing. Your pillow cover is finished!

Make knots on the ends of the cord so the cord won't easily come off.

Stuff your blanket roll into the cover. Pull and tie the cord. Tuck the knot into the pillow.

This is the finished bottom. Nice and clean.

It is a piece of cake, isn't it? If you have some old blankets you don't use anymore (but have lots of memories in it), try this! This project also solve a problem of finding a spot to store them! How clever! I guarantee this pillow will bring great comfort to your night sleep.

Thank you for stopping by! I hope you all have a beautiful week!


Monday, September 9, 2013

A new venture preparation

Many of you might have noticed that my Etsy shop has been closed for months until now. I have been considering about what I want my shop to be, what I really want to do in my shop. That's been always my question and could never find the answer which clears away the cobwebs in my mind. That is mostly why I didn't reopen my shop for some time. I didn't find the answer yet. I probably won't find that  forever. After some struggles I just decided to keep going with some ideas I have kept in my mind for years. I would rather try something new than do nothing with being troubled.

The first thing I want to try is to start selling patterns. This category will include sewing patterns, embroidery patterns, and probably crocheting and knitting patterns. So now I am working on a new bag sewing pattern and the process I am at is testing the pattern I already made. There are some more designs I want to make in PDF patterns. I assume that it will take some time for me to get skilled at this work. Anyway, just starting and finishing the first project seems very important for myself. I am hoping this plan will work out and the first release will be able to be announced to you all sooner.



I am still going to sell my One of a kind items in my shop as well. I really appreciate your patience. Thank you for stopping by. Have a great week everyone!

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Echino pencil case and old cabinet

A day before school resumed I whipped up a new pencil case for my daughter with laminated Echino fabric. The reason I picked this fabric is that peacocks are Nina's favorite bird. Like I predicted, She liked her new pencil case. I am glad that she is still young enough to appreciate her Mom's handmade.


This fabric is thick enough to hold pencils and other items without lining. So the structure of this pencil case is just so simple. It could be finished in half an hour.

Lovely colors.

Changing the subject, I am in the middle of my big assignment. I am moving my workroom from the basement to the second floor. My basement workroom was fairly big. It was actually huge. I have tons of materials, five sewing machines (!) and a serger in the basement. How could that fit in my new small (but very bright) room?! Well, I certainly have to leave some of them in the basement.

Anyways, I got a few "new" furniture in my new room. This is one of them. Our friend moved out to Florida and he gave me this fabulous old cabinet which he could not take to his destination. When I first saw this cabinet I immediately thought it would be perfect for storing my products. It will protect the items from dust and also I (and visitors) can see the things inside. I decided to paint the exterior with my recent favorite color, very light turquoise.

I like the wall paper pattern on the back.

And.....This is it! It looks more whitish in the picture but it really is a very pretty turquoise. I picked this color from the Martha Stewart paint pallet. The cabinet is set in the corner of my new room.

It is surrounded by a mess yet. The first thing I finished was storing my stuff nicely in the cabinet. (Because it is a fun part!) I started moving about a week ago, and I am almost there ( I hope!). I will share the "AFTER" view when it is ready to show off!

I baked some more pies recently. Baking pie became my recent favorite pastime. I cannot wait to go apple picking and bake some good apple pies!

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you all are having a fantastic labor day weekend!