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 Let’s
say for a moment that you missed out on home ec class. Maybe
you opted for shop, and you built a fabulous birdhouse. Or
maybe you decided to bone up on your studies and took an extra
foreign language. While you now may know all the curse words
in Spanish, something is missing in your life. Ghosts from
generations past are waking you up in your sleep, trying to
tell you something, and finally it dawns on you: you never
learned to sew.
Fear not! You learned to ride a bike, you learned to drive
a car, and you even learned how to changed the clock on the
DVD player (two out of three ain’t bad). Certainly you can
sew. Here’s the most basic project you can work on that will
surely glamorize your home and force your partner to sleep
elsewhere after you make your first forty: make a pillow.
You will need:
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Two 13” x 17” pieces of fabric.
Start with something sturdy. Don’t go for the silky,
slippery stuff-think cotton. Think denim. Think industrial
canvas. |
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A 12” x 16” pillow form. I know,
I know—you can get an entire bag of polyfil for less
than a Big Mac, but trust me, it will end up looking like
something the dog’s been gnawing on after a week.
Use a pillow form. Save yourself. |
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A sewing machine. You may have seen these
around, and your mom may have one sitting in the basement.
Do not go and buy one until you’ve made at least two pillows.
Ask someone to thread it for you, or, in desperation,
read the manual. I highly advise against this, as you
may want to throw the machine out the window when you’re
finished. |
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Thread. Preferably something that matches
your fabric, but if you want to try to make one in a contrasting
thread, you’ll be able to easily see what you’re doing.
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Step 1
Put the “pretty sides” of the fabric together.
Using a pencil or a pen, draw a small perpendicular line two
inches from each corner on one side.
Step 2
Lift your presser foot (it’s on the sewing machine) and place
fabric, pretty sides still together, underneath right where
the perpendicular line is. Start sewing. Go slowly. It’s not
a race. When you get to the corner, make sure the needle is
in the fabric. Lift the presser foot, and pivot the fabric
so that you can sew the other side. Put the presser foot back
down. When you get to the corner, pivot again. You haven’t
had this much fun since jazz class in 1987.
Do this until you get all the way around to the other perpendicular
line. Trim your thread.
Step 3
Cut the corners of the seam allowance to allow for less bulk
in the pillow. Next, turn the pillow inside out. Use your
pinky or a small, blunt object to make sure the corners are
fully turned out.
Step 4
Ram the pillow form into your new, fabulous, pillow case.
Step 5
Get a needle. Thread it. Use double thread. You will now
whip stitch the pillow closed. It’s pretty hard to describe
this without giving you or myself a headache, so just follow
the photo below.
Step 6
Repeat. I recommend making at least thirty-four pillows before
trying anything else.
Hooray! You did it. Your life is now complete.
You’re welcome.
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WINNER
- Website of the Year 
