Marshmallow Pillow

I wanted to make a marshmallow pillow for my brother (because he’s a marshmallow). I’d never sewn a pillow before, but I thought it would probably be pretty simple to make—even a cylindrical one. I just needed to do a little math to figure out the area of the fabric I needed.

I was googling “How to sew a cylindrical pillow” and I saw some complaints about lumpy pillows, and someone suggested lining the fabric using batting. I thought this would probably help my pillow maintain its shape (especially since the fabric I got was on the thinner side).

After cutting out the material (and batting) to my desired size, I had some trial and error with adding the face. At first I thought I’d use embroidery floss and sew the face on…but that just didn’t work for me. I’m sure there’s a great way to sew on a face using embroidery floss, but since I have no experience sewing with embroidery floss, I decided I wanted to find something easier for me to do.

So then I decided to just use some scrap black fabric from my fabric stash and sew a face with that. That didn’t work well for me either because the fabric frayed so that was complicating things.

Finally, I just picked up some felt fabric at a thrift store, cut out the eyes and mouth the exact sizes I wanted, and then sewed them directly on the fabric. Felt doesn’t fray so I didn’t have to worry about sewing it in a special way. It was the simplest solution for me.

After the face was added to the rectangle fabric piece, I basted the batting to the fabric and sewed the pillow together. I didn’t do a perfect job on this pillow. I probably wasn’t as accurate with my cutting and sewing because I had some extra fabric on the rectangle portion and was too lazy to fix it (so I just made a couple of pleats in the back).

And I made another mistake. I accidentally sewed the top circle with the wrong side out—with the batting on the outside rather than the inside. By the time I noticed it, I was pretty much done with the pillow and didn’t think it was worth taking it all apart to fix. It isn’t very noticeable unless you’re looking for it—but it was a stupid mistake.

The finished pillow has a 13.5 inch diameter with a 17 inch height. I think it’s so cute—a big marshmallow with a happy face. Every time I look at it, it makes me smile. My brother liked it so it was a success.

Sunglasses Part Deux

Last year I wrote about how I hate shopping for sunglasses and was very relieved to have finally bought a satisfactory pair. I’ve had those same sunglasses ever since then and have been happy with them. [Pause.] Until I recently dropped them on the ground and a lens popped out. I tried to put the lens back in, but it just wasn’t happening. I hadn’t spent much on these sunglasses but it was still disappointing to damage them.

Luckily, I had seen that the same sunglasses were still at the store that I’d initially bought them at. When I saw them about a month ago, I considered getting another pair as a backup but decided against it. At the time I thought my sunglasses were fine and I didn’t really need another pair exactly like it. I guess hindsight is 20-20. [Sigh.]

Well, now I did want a pair exactly like it. Why try to find something better when what I had was working well? I didn’t want to indefinitely search for a new pair of sunglasses that might be better than the last pair (because the odds were against me that I’d find something anytime soon). So I happily bought the exact same pair of sunglasses. Hopefully these new sunglasses will last as long (or longer) than the last pair.

Quote: Enemies are so Stimulating

Northwest Airline Sweater

I generally avoid wearing brand logos (at least in a blatant way). Sometimes it may be unavoidable, but I don’t buy shirts with giant logos plastered on the front. People can wear whatever they want, but I’ve always thought it was silly to pay more for an item merely because it has a logo on it. Because not only are you spending more, you’re giving the company free advertising—it’s great for the company, not so great for the consumer.

That being said, I recently bought a sweater (with a tastefully sized logo) for $4 at a thrift shop. I recognized the logo, Northwest Airlines (an airlines that no longer exists). Based on this logo (which looks way better with a capital “N” than when they changed it to lowercase “nwa”), this sweater is probably from the 1990s. It’s actually pretty comfortable and is a 70% acrylic 30% wool blend. The fit of the sweater is a little odd; I like the top portion and not so crazy about the bottom portion. But my favorite part is the red logo on the navy sweater—it’s pretty cute.

This is an instance where I would wear a logo because the company no longer exists, so I’m not promoting anything. I find it amusing that I would be wearing a part of someone’s uniform; others had to wear this for work and I would be choosing to wear it.

Things I Didn’t Buy 2

More things I thought were interesting but didn’t buy at a thrift store and estate sale. First is this game Tactics II. I’m not interested in war games but I like the box design.

I actually considered buying this mirror in a silicone sleeve but decided I didn’t really need it. I thought the design was interesting—totally 1970s. Although I’m not sure what “Equitable savings is people” means…

I just thought this box design was amusing with the super cheesy line, “Have a heart at your next party!” It’s a bunch of heart-shaped cake molds that I would never use.

Finally, I liked the design on this Super Nu-Kote box that feels late 1960s to me. Of course I didn’t need this (as I don’t have a typewriter).

Quote: Boredom: the Desire for Desires

Thrifted Skirt and Belt

It’s been hot in Oregon recently. And when it’s hot, and you don’t have air conditioning, you tend to go somewhere that does. So I did some thrift shopping, not because I needed anything, but because I wanted to be somewhere cool. In the end, I got two things: a skirt and a belt.

I don’t need any more skirts because I have many. Some have been on my “alter” list for a while now (and I’ve just been too lazy to do it). However, it’s nice to have a skirt that fits from the get-go. I got this black wool pencil skirt for $3.49. It’s such a basic skirt that it should go well with many of my tops.

The second item I got was this gold belt for $1.49. It’s a thin simple metal belt that has a nice looking clasp. I love that it’s a stretch material so I can wear it fitted around my waist. I think it’s really cute.