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Sew an Easy Book Reading Cushion or Pillow
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Jan 4, 2022
This video will show you how to make your own reading cushion or reading pillow. Make it any size you like to fit your cushion or pillow. Great beginner project as simple straight sewing only. These make great gifts for kids and adult readers alike. Perhaps make yours with themed fabric to match your readers favourite books. Or go for a colour to match a room where the cushion will be used most. Get creative with your DIY reading book pillow. You will need: Cushion pad or pillow Front Piece of Fabric - size of your cushion Pocket Piece of Fabric - size of your cushion 2 Back Pieces of Fabric - height of your cushion and three quarters of the width Interfacing piece - width of your cushion and half the height Ribbon - 8 inches
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In this video you learn how to make your own reading cushion or reading pillow
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Really easy to make, great beginners project if you're new to sew in
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and they make a great gift, especially for Christmas and for children
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I'm Christine of Christine's Crafts.com and this channel is dedicated to crafting on a budget
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So the first thing we need to think about is what you're going to need. You're going to need a cushion pad, whatever size you like
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but just measure your cushion both dimensions. and then you're going to need to cut out your bits that you require
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So if you want to put a handle on it, you're going to need some ribbon and I recommend an inch wide and I've cut mine eight inches long
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That makes a nice little handle. You then need to cut some shapes to make your actual pillow
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So the first thing you need to make is the front. So mine, because my cushion pad is 12 inches, is 12 inches wide by 12 inches tall
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inches tall. Obviously you'll make it the size of your cushion pad. You then need to think about
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the pocket and you need to make this the same size as the front. So 12 inches wide by 12 inches tall
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for me. It's the same size as the front piece. And then I recommend that you apply interfacing
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or like I'm doing here some fleeced interfacing to your pocket. So you need to cut it
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half the size of the front. So it'll be the same width, 12 inches, but 6 inches tall
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Make sure you get a nice straight edge on there. And then you just need two pieces for the back
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No fiddly zips or press studs. So you're going to cut two pieces that are 12 inches tall
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the height of your pillow, but this time only 9 inches wide. Now the 9 inches wide is because
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mine's 12 inches wide and to give me a good overlap. So if you've got a one
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wider cushion you're going to make yours proportionally wider. And then once you've got all those bits, all cut out and ready, you can get started
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So the first thing you need to do is to take your pocket piece and place it right side down
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So we're now looking at the back of the fabric. Take your piece of interfacing or fleece and look for the side with the glue on and make
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sure it's glue side down onto your fabric. brick. Now just place it at the bottom, taking the straightest side to the middle, make
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sure it's lined up and then apply the heat. Now if you have trouble getting it to a fix
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which sometimes you can do through these thicker interfaces, then you can, like I'm
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going to in a moment, just turn the whole lot over and apply heat that way. But with normal
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interfacing you would work as I'm working here applying heat to the different sections
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until it glues on. It's always a good idea to start with a low heat and build up to the heat
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you require rather than risking having it too hot. So if you're still having trouble
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turn the whole lot over and then press on the right side. Once your interfacing is
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successfully glued on all over we going to form the pocket by folding your fabric in half so that we cover
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that interfacing completely. So just fold it down and you've now basically got a piece of
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fabric half the size and then give it a press so you get a nice edge on the top. If you've just
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got ordinary interfacing you're going to get a nice crisp edge. If you've got a fleecy padded
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one like I have here, then you're going to have a more rounded edge. Once you're happy
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with it, it's time to move on. So that's your pocket piece prepared. We'll place it to one
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side and we'll prepare the back pieces. So take your two back pieces and put them so that
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of your two edges together like that that are going to overlap. Make sure your fabric's the right way up
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and on those edges that were together we're going to form a little hem. So fold about half an inch
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and then fold again so you're making a double hem. And you're going to do that all the way
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along and it's that edge that's going to overlap in the middle of the back of your cushion. And you're
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making a nice tidy edge so it won't fray once you're using your cushion
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Work your air long and pin it. You can do the whole hem and then the whole hem again
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or like I've done you can work the two at the same time
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Place it back and make sure you've got the right edge and then take the corresponding edge of the other one
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and do the same thing again. So you're going to fold a small hem and then fold it again
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And you're going to work all the way along. You'll note that I've turned the piece just so I end up with the pins the right way around for when I take it to the sewing machine
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Again, check your pattern on both fabric pieces. Check it's the right way round
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You don't want any mistakes once you're at the sewing machine. So check now and then it's off to the sewing machine
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So in turn, just take one of them. Just take one of them, place it on your machine, run a little way forwards, and then do a little back at the end just to secure it and then work your way all the way along that hen
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Just get a nice straight edge and get a nice straight seam. It's just going to look so tidy on the back of your cushion
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So you can see I just take the pins out as I work my way along
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And then when you get to the end, you're going to do a little bit of reversing again, just to secure this end
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Take it out of your machine and cut your threads. Go to the other end, cut the other threads, and then repeat for the other back
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Obviously I spread the film up but you just doing exactly the same thing again So now it time to turn to the front of your cushion If you want to put a hanger on it now is the time If you don want to put a hanger on it
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fast forward to the next step. But if you want to put a hanger on, I recommend you make sure
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that you get it in the middle. So with mine being 12 inches wide, I've decided to line my ribbon
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up four inches in from the edge. So it's the inner part of the ribbon that I'm putting at
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four inches from the edge so the out of it is three inches from the edge and either clip or pin
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your ribbon in place and do the same from the other side. Once you're happy with it I recommend
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you pop into the machine and just machining it in place really close to the edge of the fabric. It's
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just going to make it more secure and it's going to keep it in place when you build your cushion
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in a moment. Check you happy with your house. before you sew it and just do a little stitching across with a little bit of reverse
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It'll just hold it in place. Once you've done that, it's time to build your cushion
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So the first thing you're going to place on is your pocket
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So with the folded edge up into the middle and all the raw edges together
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place it onto your cushion front. And then get your cushion back pieces
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back pieces and we're going to place those on top so they're going to be right side down
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with the fabric the right way around so the patterns the right way up place one on one side
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matching up those raw edges and do the same with the other side again matching up those raw
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edges and you've now made a complete sandwich and you need to either pin or clip it together
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Now I recommend starting at the top and clipping really carefully where you've got lots of layers
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So I'm clipping there where I've got a bit of the ribbon, go to the corner and then clip really carefully where you've got it several layers
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Because you've got two layers of the back and the layer of the front
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And then keep going along. Make sure it's all lying flat and then do the same with the bottom
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Making sure you secure everywhere but especially where you've got several layers
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It's obviously a lot thicker at the bottom because you've got the pocket
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And then either pin or clip on the sides just to hold it in place
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You don't want anything moving when you go over to the machine
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You'll see that I'm clipping at the top edge of that pocket to make sure nothing moves there
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Once you're happy with it, you're going to sew all the way around
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We don't need to leave any gaps because we can turn it out through the back of the cushion
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So take it over to your machine. to your machine and start sewing. I recommend starting on the side on the part where you
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haven got the pocket so it not too thick You can simply set off because you going to come back round here and you can sew over your starting stitches to secure them
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So just run carefully down that edge. Taking your pins out or your clips off as you go
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You'll feel when you come to your pocket, just make sure it goes up over it nicely
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It shouldn't be too big a problem. It shouldn't be too thick. I have a very basic sewing machine and it was no problem even with the
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quilted interfacing and then keep going down till you get to the bottom corner
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As you get to the corner make sure your needle is in and lift the foot and pivot through 90 degrees
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and then go along the bottom. You will know when you reach the double layer
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and make a note where that is and keep going till you come to the end of that double layer
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that double layer. And I recommend when you get to the end of this layer that you reverse
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and sew over that bit again. Because when you're putting your cushion pad in, it's going to come
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with quite a lot of strain and you don't want anything ripping or spoiling your cushion
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So just like I'm doing here, reverse and then back and then just carry on as you were before
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and then carry on working your way around. So each corner, lift your foot with the needle in and pivot
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And remember, when you get on this top edge, you need to do what you did on the other edge that you need to find all the doubled over bit
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and reverse over it to make it nice and strong. Keep going to the last corner, pivot, down and make sure you sew over the stitches
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that you started with and you've sewn round it. Before you think about turning it out, make sure you cut your corners off carefully
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Make sure you don't cut any stitches but cut close to your stitches. It's just going to remove some of the bulk and allow you to have nice corners when you turn it out
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And then once you've done all four, it's time to turn your cushion cover out
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So you've got a great big space on the back to turn it through. just turn it through
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And I recommend getting something like a chopstick to poke your corners
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because you just want to get a nice crisp corner and it's not always the easiest thing to achieve
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So something that's not too sharp, but it's pointy enough to get in those corners
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So get a nice corner. And then you've got your reading cushion cover already
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All you need to do is pop your cushion pad in and your cushion will be finished
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Now, the only thing left to do after that is to add your book
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especially if you give you this as a gift, you want to make sure there's a nice little book in there
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And also remember, you can make these out of any fabric you like. I've made mine out of quite a grown-up fabric here for an adult
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but you can also make them out of kids' fabrics and kids love them and they can carry them around and they can lean on them while they read
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I hope you've enjoyed this video and thank you for watching. Please give me a thumbs up if you've enjoyed it
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