We are a people in the pursuit of making things with our hands & analog tools. Many of us enjoy it as a respite from our virtual worlds and digital displays. We shall share updates on our projects, craft resources, inspiration, & other news.

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

The American Dream Pillow

My friend, Carlos, saw the patriotic boy-toy print I had and asked where he could get some for himself, but it appears to no longer be at Joann Fabrics. Luckily for him, I hadn't done anything yet with my beefcake fabric and was happy to make something for him as a housewarming gift, as he just moved into a new studio.

For the back side of this pillow cover, I used a stars and stripes motif:

Sewing something for a friend. U-S-A! U-S-A!

The two fabrics overlap in the back where it opens to put the pillow in. This is called an "Envelope-backed Pillow Cover", which I roughly based on Martha Stewart's instructions.

When I measured out the 18x18" size onto the fabric, I made sure to include as many pretty boy faces as I could within the square. I'm glad I didn't pick a smaller pillow for this print; it would have been sad to have to limit and choose which boys to include.

Huggy Pillow for Carlos

And voila! A very huggable pillow for Carlos to lay his head down on and dream the American dream of starry, shirtless, muscly drummer boys knocking on his door. This may not actually be too far from his reality, now that I think of it.

I briefly considered adding a border but that would have made the print area smaller. I also considered adding a pom-pom trim, but I don't think one this needs it. There's plenty of pomp & circumstance within the print already! Anyway, here's a side view of the pillow:

Side view of pillow

It's an easy project and now I want one for myself too. But I would have to figure out which existing pillow I'd have to replace to allow for it, otherwise there won't be any room left on my couch for anyone to actually sit. Or... I might make another apron with the remaining fabric, which would be another nice way to snuggle with some cute American beefcake while I'm baking my weekly mochi cake.

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