Apart from the sheer terror of take-off, the trauma of turbulence and the distress before landing, the thing I hate the most about flying is the pure discomfort. Being stuck not only in the worlds most cramped seat, for 10 hours is one thing, but having to sit upright and try to sleep really does not make for a pleasant experience. Now sadly, I am not one of these fortunate folk who can afford the extortionate amounts it costs to fly in business class, so we mere mortals have to be inventive when it comes to providing ourselves with in-flight comfort (you don’t get free pillows and blankets these days people).
My sister flew to Las Vegas on Monday (lucky mare), and before she went she was talking about wanting a neck pillow for the flight. I thought this was a genius idea so we decided that I should use my sewing expertise (ahem) to make her one. If you want to know how to fashion your own in flight neck pillow out of some fabric and the inside of a cushion, keep reading.
So to make this delightful pillow, you will need:
· Any cotton fabric of your choice
· Stuffing from the inside of an old cushion
· Thread to match
· A sewing machine (although it could be stitched by hand if you don’t have one)
· Scissors
· Pins
· A needle
· A pen
Oooh take a look at my old school sewing machine. Cool huh. I may as well be living in the 50’s. This beauty can only do a running stitch. No zig zagging for me! But it serves its purpose I suppose!
Ok so firstly you will need to pick your fabric. Rowanne chose a charming mint green material with small flowers in pinks, purples etc. Fold the fabric in half so the nice sides are facing inwards (rough edge on the outside) and lay flat on the table. Use a pen to lightly sketch the shape of your pillow; think a thick boomerang!
Once you have drawn your shape, cut it out. Once you have done this, you will have 2 shapes that look like this (you have 2 because you folded the material in half, remember?)
So now you need to line these shapes up, with the good sides facing each other. Use your pins to pin them together so when you are sewing, nothing moves out of place. Take this pinned piece and use your sewing machine (or hand sew using a running stitch) and sew about 1 centimetre from the edge nearly all the way around, leaving a gap big enough to get your hand through when you are stuffing! Turn the shape inside out so that the good side is now on the outside and you should have something like this!
Unsure why this is sideways, but you get the gist, right? All you need to do now, is stuff the pillow with your chosen wadding and then stitch up the gap by hand. This can be a little tricky as you must turn the open edges inwards and do a looping type stitch to make sure the pillow is sealed with no rough edges (Blimey, that’s so unclear…I’m presuming no one will have a clue what I mean haha!)
And voila!! You should have something that looks a bit like this! (Yes, I know one side is chubbier that the other. I don’t care. It looks stunning)
Hope Rowanne had a nice sleep on the flight. Considering I also made her a matching eye mask, she should have slept like a baby!
Love,
Lauren
xx
