Hello!  Welcome back to sewing a pillow part 2.  This is the reveal portion of the pillow blog.  Sounds silly, no?  This is what happens when I run out of furniture to refurbish.  I move on to other activities, like sewing.

To recap, I decided to make a pillow that is 22 inches by 18 inches using some of Mr. Sky Lark House’s old jeans and the front of a vintage US mail canvas bag. To further challenge myself, I decided that I would also add piping around the pillow in addition to a zipper.  It is my philosophy that if a pillow doesn’t come with a removable and washable cover – then I won’t buy it.

This project was more complicated than I anticipated mostly because when sewing – everything has to be inside out and it’s all “backwards”.  When adding the piping and zipper, it is easy to get things in the wrong order.

It is also easy to accidentally sew your piping to the inside of the pillow rather than on the outside of the pillow.  Don’t ask me how I know this.  Ok, it is evident how I know this. My seam ripper got a good workout during this process.

Also, I found that other than just being persistent –  patience was important.  After working on the pillow for the better part of an afternoon, I set it aside for a couple of days. Rather than bulldoze my way to the finish line, I decided to let all the challenges I was having marinate for a few days.

Well, waiting a few days seemed to work.  When I approached the project again, I had new ideas on how to solve some problems as well as a renewed energy.

Still, the pillow isn’t 100% correct.  I remind myself that this is simply a prototype.  Future models will be improved.  So, without further rambling – here are photos of the final pillow, complete with pieced together denim backing, denim piping and a zipper. The zipper is on the right side.  By and large, it is hidden by the piping.

For future pillows, I would like to improve how the piping is connected into the pillow.  There was one corner where I just couldn’t get it to line up correctly.  In the future, I don’t think I will use two stiff fabrics together.  If I used a heavy canvas in the front, I would use a hemp or linen on the back.  If I used denim on the back, I would use a softer material in the front.  Also, I am thinking about doing more denim pillows because I really loved the texture and appearance of the pieced together denim.  What do you think?  Do you sew?  If so, I would love to have some advice or tips.

Thank you for stopping by the blog today.  It always means the world to me that you take the time to find out what is going on in this corner of the internet.