Sunday, June 9, 2013

Sarah's Pillows - Part One


As you know, I'm making pillows for Sarah. She has two different pillow covers that she sent me to duplicate: one large square case and one smaller rectangular case.

"Three of the large, two of the small," she said.

Unfortunately, she only bought enough fabric for two of each. I hate disappointing a client, but she doesn't seem too upset about this, so I'm going with the flow.

I had a crazy week at work, and yesterday was a full day at the in-laws, so today I really needed to vegetate and get my head space back in order. Psyche myself up for work, so to speak. So, I didn't finish the pillows, like I'd hoped. But, Sarah (bless her!) assures me there's no hurry. Still, I'll work on them over the course of this week.

I have been putting a lot of thought into these. Each case has a zipper. There's nothing fancy about them, just plain zippers. I thought that since they're on decorative pillows, they should be lapped zippers. Thing is, I make items that don't require zippers. And I'm self-taught. So I have no clue how to sew in a zipper.

However, I'm my father's little girl, and my father always had the attitude: "How hard can it be?" The same attitude that led him to build the three-bedroom bungalow our family lived in for more than fifteen years. I inherited the Over-Achiever Gene.

So, I flipped through some sewing books I have, and I looked up lapped zippers. After reading the instructions, I thought I better do a few test runs. I pulled out some scrap fabric and I practised.

The instructions weren't very clear and I admit, I struggled. After watching a few tutorials, I realize I'm not the only one who thought the written instructions were confusing. Unfortunately, I didn't watch those videos until I sat down to write this blog. So, my seam-ripper was well-used. However, I figured out how to make a lapped zipper. And that's all that matters.

It's a little worn after taking it apart so many times, and I haven't cut off the threads, or finished the ends...and I don't even know why I'm apologizing for this. It's a scrap, after all.


All that matters is that it looks like it should. See? Peek-a-boo zipper.


Now to sew the real thing. Soon, Sarah, I promise.







2 comments:

  1. Hi UC, as a interior decorator I create custom soft furnishings and window treatments for clients. I always use an invisible zipper opening on my pillows. This way, the pillow can be placed with any side of the pillow facing out without the zipper being visible. As a bonus they're simple to sew. Try it sometime.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I should also add, its much easier to line up patterns as well, making the opening almost invisible. Hope you find this helpful. Have fun creating :)

    ReplyDelete