FO: Chill Pill-ow

This project was a request from my sister about 2 years before I made it, lol. Can't rush. Last summer I was on a big kick to finally fulfill the promised makes for my family, and this one turned out to be a huge hit.

About 2 years before, my sister sent me this photo and asked if I could crochet her one. The original is tufted, but I knew I could translate it into crochet without much difficulty. So I said yes and the promptly did not make it up, lol.

I did make a chart for myself back when she asked me initially for this pillow, which was handy. I just guessed at the size and it turned out to be right - woo hoo. I didn't know what to do for the actual outer size of the pillow itself, so I made it as a bit of a rounded edge rectangle knowing I could serge off the areas I didn't need later. This file is large enough to print just in case anyone else needs a chill pillow of their own.

And this was the finished top! I made this while watching old Twilight Zone episodes, lol. I was pretty pleased with it. I did this as tapestry crochet where you carry the other color along and crochet it into each stitch so it is available when you need to switch. I remember I did have to fudge the chart in one place because it didn't look right - it was somewhere on the 100mg part, I just can't remember specifically what I had to do. Once it was all crocheted, I just made a template of what shape I wanted the pillow to be that would use the most of the crochet I could while still making it look uniform and deliberate. I then used that template piece to cut out some white denim from my stash, and I sewed and serged the pieces together, leaving a few inches to flip it and stuff before closing it by hand.

The back is plain but sturdy, helping give this a good finished shape. I find it's hard to get a fully crocheted pillow to keep the shape you want without it bulging in odd areas since it has so much give built in. Also, I stuffed this thing within an inch of its life. My philosophy with anything you will be hugging and squeezing or laying on is that you want to stuff it very firmly in the beginning because the stuffing with compact over time. So this was very firmly stuffed when it went to its new owners.

It turned out a nice bolster size, which has now made this pillow legendary in our family. My mom brought this along with a few other things I sewed for my sister when she visited her for the birth of her baby. She had the baby, and this pillow became invaluable. She now swears that I should make this pillow for everyone as a baby gift - they use it to prop up the baby, to prop their arms up when feeding, all kinds of things. Who knew? 

My other 2 sisters also just had babies, so now I have to make more pillows similar to this but without the crochet. Maybe this can be my signature baby gift? A firmly stuffed bolster pillow. I really like how this came out initially and I'm very glad that I buckled down and got it done in a time that my sister could get the most use out of it.

Summary:

Yarn: I Love This Yarn in Soft Blue and Antique White - $3.00

Pattern: My own 

Fabric: 1/4 yard of white denim - Free

Time: 2 Days