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!


4 comments:

  1. Thank you very much for the tutorial: The fabrics are wonderful. Kisses from Spain

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  2. Ótima idéia!
    Um abraço!
    Egléa

    Great idea!
    Hugs!
    Egléa

    ReplyDelete
  3. So easy and perfect. My little could use one of those. The biggest has a stuffed shark which he simply love.

    Nice blog by the way.

    Happy Easter.
    Bente

    ReplyDelete