Making The Pillow Mat...

...a new sewing project...a little while ago I posted to say that this project jumped out at me from issue 18 of Making Magazine...and that my smallish male person quite fancied the look of it...and because I had made the smallish female person two cushions...why couldn't I make it for him? Good question, apart from the obvious reason...I'm only just learning to sew!!! But after reading the instructions about fifty times...I decided it seemed pretty okish for me to tackle...

 So, off I went to get the fabric...

 ...we decided on the order together...

...which I managed to reverse during the sewing together process!! Oops!! He said it didn't matter though!! (as if I would unpick and re-do!!)

 ...Then came the backing fabric...what a palava! The pillows I had to go in my mat, were bigger than the ones that the pattern fitted!!! So after cutting the fabric, I realised it was going to be too small!!! I decided not to give up (the thought did cross my mind! But I am stronger than that!) a pillow mat would not get the better of me! Instead I would 'tweak'....after all, what else was I going to do...I had enough of the red fabric to make another strip the right length, so I joined the two strips down the middle of the back to make it wide enough...

I stitched along the seam, so that it is a double seam, and it has worked fine! After making the envelope closing (in my case on the backing fabric as the front panel was only just the right width!!) it only left stitching along the joining seams of each panel of fabric.The joins are double stitched for extra strength...you can see the back join and the seam between two pillows above...I used a contrasting thread for effect...and yes, I know it isn't terribly straight, but hey, I'm a learner driver as far as sewing machines go!!

...and the pillows I have fit perfectly...

...so now the smallish male person has his very own flop-out pillow mat to lounge on... 

 ...and I'm rather proud of my achievement...

It's very soft and squishy to sit on...

So what have I learned whilst making this? 

* First of all, to measure the pillows you are using...after looking on the internet it seems pillows are not all of a standard size!! But come in a range of sizes!!

*Second, there is always a way around a problem...you just have to think out of the box sometimes!

*Third, I need to practise my straight stitching on the sewing machine...practise makes perfect...

*Finally...I did it!! I finished my first official, following a pattern sewing project!! (with a little 'tweak' along the way!)