Reading Pillow

Teacher Appreciation Week is happening at school right now and in the past, I've not given teachers gifts until the end of the year, but for some reason, I felt like doing it this week instead of waiting until the last day of school. I feel like it's kinda one or the other, right? Or am I really supposed to do both? I do give them Christmas gifts at Christmas (this year was a handmade embroidered linen kitchen towel and some homemade marshmallows), but it starts to feel like overload if we do teacher appreciation WEEK (when did it morph from a day into a week?!) AND year end gifts. It stumps me. 

So, teacher appreciation gifts this year. I had a great idea for my twins' kindergarten teacher and I'm actually really excited about it. I decided to make a reading pillow for her and include a picture book picked out by my girls. She has a preschool-age son, and I figured this would be something fun she could enjoy with him. So one day when I needed to stop by Joann's for thread, I looked at the canvas they had for something nice for a pillow. Joanns fabric is NOT my preference (I can't remember the last time I bought fabric there that I was intending to use for a serious project) but I didn't really want to wait for shipping. I found a perfect canvas print and a matching solid and I bought it so fast (well, as fast as shopping at Joanns can be--I always wait at least 10 minutes, often 15-20 to check out...so annoying!). 

I pitched the idea to my girls and they were...lukewarm about it. But I know it's a good idea, so they can just deal, haha. 

I spent a good hour picking a font and digitizing the READ embroidery design, and then got out my embroidery machine and got to work. 

Pillows are great because they really are decently fast as far as sewing projects go. I had a bit of trouble with the embroidery at first, but I got it all resolved and then spent another hour and a half sewing it all up. I'm really bad at invisible zippers. I find them incredibly frustrating, honestly. I have the invisible zipper foot, but my fabric always gathers anyway. It's like the foot is too tight for the zipper teeth, so it feeds the fabric on the bottom faster than the zipper can go? I don't know, it's really frustrating. But, I got it to work, and there's only a tiny little pucker that is more of a looser spot than a pucker, but it's hardly noticeable once the pillow form is in.

Let's talk about pillow forms, eh? A neighbor from my last neighborhood used to sew a lot and even sold pillows on Etsy a good 15 years ago. She turned me on to pillow forms from Crate and Barrel. I think they've gone up a bit, but they're still really affordable for what you get--a great down pillow. I order the 23" ones, that are now $18 but I could have sworn I paid $15? I bought 5 or so maybe 2 years ago and just kept them in a closet to slowly be used. I've now used 3 as gifts, I think? I made a monogrammed pillow for my cousin's wedding, and a Christmas pillow for a new neighbor who hadn't unpacked Christmas decorations yet. I'm out now, so I'll have to order more, but the quality is top notch and they're not much more than you pay at Joanns for crappy synthetic ones. 

My girls picked Sophie's Squash for the book.
It's really cute, one of their favorites!

Also, while we're talking pillow forms, let's talk about sizing. When we moved into our house, we bought some pillows from our interior designer's storefront (I hadn't yet tried making my own) and they were so luxurious. So full and firm, and great fabrics. One of my kids spilled on one so I took out the pillow form so I could more easily spot treat it or machine wash it, and I was amazed to see that inside the 18" or 19" pillow case was a 23" pillow form. No wonder they didn't look saggy! I follow the tutorial for pillows at deepthoughtsbycynthia.blogspot.com, and she says to cut your fabric no more than half an inch larger than your pillow form (with a half inch seam allowance) but I find even this too baggy. 

Unfortunately, I made this reading pillow a bit larger than I should have. With the additional pocket, I didn't want it to be too snug, and some of my pillows I've made are REALLY snug. So, I cut it 22", figuring that 21" finished would be snug enough. I wish I'd made it just a tad snugger. It's acceptable, but I would prefer a bit more full. Oh well, c'est la vie. But, if you are reading this and wondering how to make your handmade pillows really stand out, this is the trick and don't make the same mistake I did. Cut your fabric at least 1-1/2"-2" smaller than your form. 

Hopefully, our teacher loves it, because I think it turned out so cute. I'm really happy with it, and I think it's the perfect kindergarten teacher gift.