Lucky loves Finding Dory. Of any Disney characters he could want, I'm happy for him to collect licensed products with fish on them. One day when we were shopping at JoAnn Fabrics and we came across some Finding Dory fabric that also had the other characters - Hank, Destiny, Bailey, Nemo, Marlin and Dory. This was perfect!
I had an extra randomly sized pillow form from when I created pillow forms out of a bed pillow. This pillow form measures 12" x 18.5".
I purchased 1/2 yard of the Finding Dory fabric. I planned to just use a panel on the pillow but Lucky kept talking about his Finding Dory pillow and asking if I had made it yet. One Sunday, I decided to let him help me make the pillow. He could watch as I cut the fabric and I would put my machine on the slowest speed so Lucky could press the food pedal for me. Sounds great, right?
Unfortunately, I didn't think about my measurements correctly. I wanted to just make a simple envelope pillow case with overlapping edges in the middle of the back, but there just isn't enough fabric. I could get away with it if I wanted to rotate the fabric 90 degrees, but I want the pillow to be used in landscape orientation. There is enough fabric for me to wrap the pillow like a present, so I could make a case with no opening... but it would still be a close fit if I were to try making a case with a velcro closure.
We need another trip to the fabric store. Sorry, Lucky. This quick project is going to be a little more complicated. I couldn't decide if I wanted to buy more of the same fabric (which would require a second 1/2 yard purchase) of if I wanted to get a half yard of a second fabric. Hopefully I could bring Lucky to the store with me so we could pick something out together.
I could have purchased more of the original fabric, but then I would have been annoyed if I couldn't line up the front and back correctly. This Nemo, Marlina and Dory fabric on a light background is a nice complement to the complete cast fabric I plan to use on the front of the pillow.
When I sat down to finish writing this post, I couldn't find my notes on the pattern in the blogger app. I searched my Gmail account and couldn't find any notes there either. What on Earth did I do with them? I was sitting outside with my laptop, Lucky was at school and Rowdy was running around. How can I finish this post if I don't have my notes? Suddenly I realized... my notes were HAND WRITTEN! Since I was working on this pillow with Lucky I didn't want to pull out my computer. Therefore I wrote the notes out by hand. I'll have to go inside to finish up this post.
I cut out three pieces of fabric for this pillow; two 13" x 15" pieces and one 13"x 19.5" piece for the front. I wanted to make sure that the swimming fish would be lined up, so I cut the fabric lengthwise along the fold and then adjusted the widths by cutting it down the middle.
I created a double hem (this I didn't even measure) and stitching it closed. Lucky REALLY likes holding down the pedal of my machine. I did have to give him some warnings about adjusting the speed, that part is only for Mommy's!
I created the pillow "sandwich" double and triple checking that I had the correct orientation for everything and then sewed around the outside edge with a 1/4" seam. I think that I was worried about the pieces being too snug but I had enough space to get away with 1/2" seams. Oh well! I was so excited to see the final pillow that I forgot to clip the corners, but they are pointy enough for me.
Lucky doesn't seem to mind, either. He was so excited to play with the pillow that HE made that I had trouble keeping him still to take some pictures.
I've come a long way from when I would make pillows with fabric glue! A sewing machine is much faster.
I love that my boys are growing up thinking that I can make them anything. I certainly can't make ANYTHING, but I will try. I hope that they continue to ask "Mommy, can you make this?" before "Mommy, can you buy this?" for a long time.
Lucky has been asking me for some more "toe blankets", i.e. blankets that are long enough to cover his toes. He has been sleeping with some of his baby quilts for almost a year now and I think he's ready for something bigger. I still haven't made Lucky a quilt but it looks like I should make him at minimum a twin sized quilt. I have my inspiration fabrics so now I just need to find some more coordinating fabrics and get ready to sew.
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