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A Shipment of Snowy Linens

3/26/2018

2 Comments

 
I have a friend with cervical spine damage who is always on the hunt for the perfect pillow.  She asked me if I could make one for her that had the following qualities:
  • flat, not too tall or fluffy
  • loosely packed so that the fill can be shifted around to make cradle for the head
  • a kind of fill that doesn't get either compacted or lumpy with use
I hemmed and hawed, because she's far away from me, so I wouldn't be able to run the prototype past her, but then, at Fabric Depot's warehouse sale in February, I saw Pellon's Forever Loft(R) Latex Fill steeply discounted, so I bought it.  If it doesn't meet her needs, it was only four bucks and a night of work.  Plus, it used up a bunch of my stash! 
Boudica being away for maintenance, I made everything with my serger.  I used up scrap muslin for the pillow, and used every shred of the latex fill to stuff it.  Then I closed it by hand with orange thread; I wanted the closure to be obvious in case my friend decided that there was too much stuffing, so she could open the original hole instead of making a new hole, and take some stuffing out. 

Then, using more white fabric from my stash, and using an eyelet lace ruffle salvaged from an old sheet, I made two pillow cases.
Picture
Picture
When attaching the ruffle, I used pleats on one pillowcase and gathers on the other, which gives a nice illustration of the look of the two techniques side by side.  I like gathers better for the eyelet lace ruffle: I think they have more body and look sweeter than the pleats. 
Picture
So I packed all the white stuff in a box, and tossed some other white things in there just to make the package even whiter!  I sent them to her in time for her birthday (which was yesterday). 
Picture

RESULTS

I hoped she would find the pillow useful for her neck problems, to help her sleep.  But her feedback was less than stellar: she liked the feel of the latex fiberfill in her hands, but didn't think there was enough of it in the pillow to really support her neck.  I suggested that she experiment with this pillow in conjunction with her others.  Then, if she still wants to double the amount of stuffing in the pillow, I gave her the name of the filler so she could find it at Joann's, and reminded her to open and close the pillow at the orange hand-stitching.  Then she worried that if she overstuffed the pillow, the pillowcases would no longer fit, and I told her that she needed to not worry about pillowcases, because the goal is to make something that works for her neck! 

So: not a success, but a step in the right direction, in that the fill has promise. 
2 Comments
The Sister
4/2/2018 11:53:56 am

I think the pillow is just fine (lovely pillowcases!)... the problem is that you and the recipient had different ideas of what would work, and distance compounded the problem.

Reply
Karen Roy link
4/2/2018 09:49:57 pm

Yeah, that's why I was reluctant to take on the project to begin with! But the fill was on sale, so I gave it a go!

Reply



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    Karen Roy

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