Teacher Pillows 2008


Yes, I made Teacher Pillows again. I know I am going to get flak for reprising the project that made me so insane last year. This year my timing was off (summer, which, as you know, happens NOT to be before the end of school) and they turned out to be a lot easier. Spring was just too crazy with work to be able to get to this project in time for the end of school. I think doing them while I was on vacation and not worrying about regular life was a really good thing. The first day of school is Monday, so the teachers will get a little boost from a gift then.

I decided to make them on vacation so I could get my SIL to give me some pointers. She has 3 boys, two of which are out of the house and college, and a lot of Teacher Pillows under her belt. I thought that if she couldn’t give me some pointers to make the process easier, I would really give up the tradition.

These are 12″ square pillows. That size choice made the whole process easier, because I didn’t have to change the size of the block or add a border and could just use the directions straight out of Around the Block. I have EQ, so another idea is that if I want to make 14″ pillows in the future I could resize one of their blocks and use the directions. They have great rotary cutting directions. (note to self).

SIL also suggested that I made the back two panels 10″ x 12″ each. This size is to prevent gaposis. It was hard to get the pillow forms into the pillow cover, but once they were all in, there was no gaposis.

The only thing I don’t like about this group is that the pillow forms are too puffy in the middle, so the corners aren’t filled out. I am ignoring that this time around. Once the teachers lean on them, I am hoping they will squish down. I will look for squishier pillow forms next time. Last time I got feather pillow forms on sale and those filled out the pillow cover nicely.