Gaming throw
Pillows
When my husband and I were first married I made some scrap fabric
throw pillows. Years later they are
still the family joke. When I had made
those pillows I had taken some very old stuffing from other pillows I had been
given and put that in the pillows. The
problem with using such old pillow stuffing is that I had to add a lot of it to
get the right shape with the pillows. As
a result of adding so much stuffing to those pillows they were as heavy as
bricks not fluffy and soft like clouds.
When we had pillow fights with them a person could get hurt if they were
not careful.
These pillows were so dense that I will never live those pillows
down. One night I was up with Future
Author when she was about a year and a half and she was sick and really
uncomfortable. It was really late and it
hurt my heart that I couldn’t seem to ease her discomfort. I got frustrated, not at her but at my
impotence to help her. I had given her
medicine to help with the fever, given her a bath, rubbed lotion into her
aching legs and arms, rocked her, sung to her which normally put her to sleep
and she just could find no relief. I was
then walking the floor with her to try to keep her moving because sometimes
that helped.
Earlier that night my husband had gotten home late from a long
day at work and he had chosen to unwind by playing a video game, nothing unusual. He had finally gone to bed because he had
work the next day.
So while I was walking the floor with her, the house was mostly
quiet, except for her moans of discomfort and then she says “Daddy”. She had recently learned to say his name and
understood who she was asking for when she said Daddy. My husband had been elated that she liked
asking for him.
When she asked for him I leaped at the chance to do something
that might give her some comfort. I
walked with her into our room and called my husband’s name but he was solidly asleep. I called his name a few times, each time getting
louder and louder, no response came.
Finally my temper got the better of me I picked up a throw pillow and
threw it at him to wake him up and he still didn’t wake up.
Eventually I was able to calm her down and get her to sleep. After I had thrown the pillow at him I felt
bad at throwing something at him. I know
it was just a pillow but I still felt bad.
The next morning I apologized for throwing the pillow at
him. He had no memory of event so I told
him what had happened with Future Author the previous night and about how I was
feeling, which had prompted me to throw the pillow at him. He apologized for not waking up then laughed
at me.
I was really confused because I felt horrible about throwing a
pillow at him in frustration. He said”No
wonder my nose hurts. I never would have known if you hadn’t told me.” I had thrown the pillow at his head; it had not
occurred to me that I had thrown a “brick” pillow at him. I was just trying to
get him to wake up.
To this day he still lovingly teases me about throwing a pillow
at his nose. So when he asked me to make
him throw pillows again last year I really hesitated. I didn’t want to make more “brick” pillows
and pillow forms were out of the question because of how expensive they are,
even with a coupon and the item on sale.
Pillow forms are the same price as a premade pillows, except they don’t have
the fabric on them and my husband doesn’t like any of the designs on the
premade ones.
Then I remembered that I had gutted a leather couch for my
sisters Aiel costume and I had kept the stuffing which was in really good condition.
The person had gotten rid of the couch because
of a rip in the leather and there was nothing else wrong with it. So I decided
to swallow (choke down) some humble pie and try to make throw pillows again.
Step#1
Gathering materials. I had soft and fluffy stuffing from the couch. I had fabric I could use to make the pillow
forms from, sheets that my kids had ruined. They had spilled blue paint on a
part of my favorite white sheets but that’s another story. So all I lacked was a top fabric and some
cording.
Step#2
People who know me understand I don’t like shopping and I cringe
at paying for fabric. However, I wanted
this to be something really nice for my husband. He was still in so much pain from the
accident that we were sleeping on our two couches because that was the only
place he could get comfortable enough to sleep.
So when he asked for throw pillows it made a lot of sense. I went on-line and printed out some Joanne’s
coupons. We went to the store and I had
him pick out the fabrics. We were almost
done looking when we walked past this fleece fabric that had controllers,
consoles and all kinds of gaming things on it.
I thought it was perfect but I was not sure he would like it. He thought it was perfect too. So it went into
the cart and I didn’t even look at the price.
As we were about to get it cut he mention that he wanted a controller organizer
as well from the same material. So we
ended up buying all the material that was left on the bolt.
Step#3
I took apart an old throw pillow that was the right size to use
as a pattern.
Step#4
I laid out the white sheets and laid the pattern on top then
pinned it down. I cut out 12 squares.
Step#5
I then took each square and ironed it.
Step# 6
I laid the squares on top of each other so that I then had 6
squares 2 thick. I pinned them together.
Step#7
I sewed the pillow forms together leaving a small opening on one
side to fill in the stuffing.
Step#8
I carefully filled the 6 pillow forms. Trying to get the shape
right and walk the balance between filing them without stuffing them so full
that they became hard or heavy. It
actually took a long time to get this balance right. Maybe I was being very picky because of my
previous experience but what good does a bad experience do if you don’t learn
from it.
Step#9
I sewed the small opening closed. My 6 pillow forms were now
complete. In case anybody is wondering if pillow forms are necessary. I would argue that they do affect how well a
pillow holds up over time however that is my opinion. A person doesn’t have to
have them.
Step#10
I then took the same pattern and pinned it to my top fabric. I
then cut out 6 squares of my top fabric.
Step#11
Then I took the same pattern and gathered my 2 back fabrics. I pinned
it to the 2 different back fabrics. Then cut 3 of one back fabric and 3 of the
other.
Step#12
I then gathered all my squares top and bottom and surged the
edges. It is not necessary to serge your fabric. However we have 4 children and I was sure
these would need to be sturdier in construction so I surged the edges.
Step#13
I then pinned the cording down to the top fabric. Then sewed it
down to the right side, I did use a cording foot, it’s easier. (If you don’t have
a cording foot you might try a zipper foot.) I repeated this step for all 6
pillows.
Step#14
I then carefully laid all the backs onto the tops, right sides
together. Then pinned them
together. I sewed them together along
the cording very slowly so I could control how close the seam was to the
cording and the slow pace was worth it.
I got a better result and I didn’t have to redo any parts. I did leave an opening again so I could fit
the pillow form in but it was a larger opening.
Step#15
I flipped all the pillow cases right sides out. I made sure to poke all the cording out and
smooth it out.
Step#16
I stuffed the pillow forms into the pillow cases.
Step#17
I then hand sewed the opening closed.
I took longer on this
project than is strictly necessary because I was being so careful. However it was worth the result since he
still loves these pillows and they have held up really well. Even better still they are not “brick”
pillows.
Materials Cost
White sheets-ruined in a corner by my kids 0.00
Stuffing- left over from another project 0.00
Thread- left over from another project 0.00
Gaming fabric- 15.00
Back fabric 5.00
Back fabric 2 5.00
Cording 20.00
Total Cost
45.00
Forms from the store were 15.00 a piece so we saved 45.00 on the
pillows. I can live with half price for pillows my husband loves.
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