DIY Cloud Pillow

This is one post in a series of DIY projects I have put together which show some of the things I have been doing to firstly, get Sophie's nursery together, and secondly, distract myself during the last couple of weeks of pregnancy...
I hope you enjoy them!

So in our wee nursery, we have a series of Ikea Kallax shelves set up underneath a window, kind of like a makeshift bay window. We wanted a nice wee spot which was functional, to hold all Sophie's books, and as extra space for people to sit in the nursery. We also wanted it to be nice, cosy and aesthetically pleasing. I bought a couple of cushions from Moorea Seal in the States before we left, and we got a cute wee Owl pillow from Gingiber on Etsy. Since then, I have been brainstorming different ideas for some home made ones.

Before I make anything, I tend to spend ages searching the net so see what other people might have created. The ones I fell for the most are a variation on a cloud pillow which is pretty popular on Pinterest at the moment. I just kind of ran with how I thought it might work.

Here is how it all went down... 
ps. I am pretty happy with the results!

I happened to have some random floral fabrics in my sewing box, so I used them for the first two pillows. Then I went and found some more for the last one. The amount of fabric you need will depend on what size you are after. Like, you could use random scraps of fabric for some smaller ones for a rattle, or you could use a little more and create a cushion for a bed, or you could make a super lovely large one, as a floor pillow for a play room.

Draw a cloud! I cannot draw to save my life, and I managed it, so I bet you can too! I think a flat bottomed cloud works best if you want it to sit up by itself (like for on a sofa), but if the cloud is for a wee rattle, toy or bed cushion, you could make it fluffy all the way around. Cut out your cloud when you are happy with the shape. When you draw, don't forget to make enough allowance for a seam, so make the cloud a little larger than the one you want to end up with.

Iron your fabric - confession - I didn't do this for the first two, as we hadn't bought one yet.. but then I got one, so I did it! And it totally looks better, especially if you are using scraps because chances are they are probably a bit wrinkled.

Fold your fabric in half, the right sides facing each other. I pinned it along the edges to make sure it didn't slip.

Put the edge of the cloud along the fold in the fabric. Pin your cloud picture to the fabric.

Cut out along the edge of the cloud, taking care to keep the shape of the cloud intact. You don't wanna lose your fluffiness!

Unpin the paper template and pin the two layers of fabric together. Discard the template. Or, keep it for another one!

Where to start sewing? I started in the middle, along the flat edge. Double back to make sure the thread won't come out later. Continue along the base of the cloud, when you get to the start of the cloud fluffs, slowly rotate the cloud to follow along the edge.

Tip! To make the cloud fluffs end "sharply" or in other words, to make the individual fluffs rounder and fluffier, make sure you sew down into the axis between fluffs quite deeply.

Continue this all the way around the cloud until you are back at the cloud base again. When you are about an inch away from the start of the stitches, finish up by doing a double back to make sure the threads wont come out.

Take scissors, and (carefully) snip into the corners of each poof to make sure they separate and looks sharp and crisp.

Nearly there!!

Using your fingers, turn the wee cloud inside out, making sure you get each cloud fluff all rounded out.

Optional - you can iron the cloud again now if you would like, to make your fluffs into lovely circular poofs.

Or. You can go ahead and... stuff that cloud! Fill the cloud one poof at a time, making sure you get a good volume of fill in. You want each little cloud arm to be rounded out and full.

When you are happy with your clouds fullness (and don't skimp, no one like a skinny cloud!) you can fold in your edges of the wee hole, and hand stitch the rest of the cloud up. There are flash stitches you can use so you won't see any thread, or you can just be a casual carole like me and use blanket stitch or use.. well I dont know what its called. A stitch stitch haha.

What do you think?? Have you made something similar? How did you make yours?

I just adore how this little experiment turned out, and I think they make a lovely addition to Sophie's reading knook. Plus it really feels good to have things you made yourself, you know?

Other ways you could mix this up:
- After you cut out the cloud, and before you stitch the two layers together, you could embroider a cute face one side, or a name, or a message.
- Along the edge of one side of the fabric, you could sew loops of ribbon to make the cloud more of a taggy toy.
- You could make a smaller one with a couple of bells inside to be used as an interactive toy for a baby.
- Very small ones could be strung up as a mobile or garland for a nursery.

Excitement!

For the last wee while we have been planning our trip to Paris in November.. I have been collecting images on Pinterest. Oh Pinterest. You are awesome.

Today we booked a day trip to London and a day trip to Geneva. I am so excited! I can't wait to have some mementos for my European travel memory box!

I remember learning about the TGV in French in high school, now I get to actually take a ride on one.. The photos from Geneva all look so pretty, I can't wait to see the Lake.

And London was Rob's choice, he has always wanted to explore.

So we are pretty excited we poppets this evening. Hope y'all are having a nice night too!

Guest Post - Crochet Tips with Leah!

Today my post is being taken over in the loveliest way possible, my dear friend from home will be sharing a DIY crochet project and some handy tips!

Tehani, Leah and I at our MSc graduation!

Hi Blog readers!

You don’t know me yet, but I am a uni friend of the wonderful Sarah. I live in Aotearoa New Zealand with my lovely fiancé and our gorgeous son. Since our son was born 7 months ago, I seem to have decided I am somewhat of a crafty person (curse you Pinterest!) and Sarah asked me to guest blog about one of my recently finished crochet projects so here I am :-)

I recently learned to crochet – only very simple, mind you. My sister-in-law-to-be was crocheting one evening at my house, so being the nosy sod I am I asked her to show me how to do it. What started as me learning to crochet turned into this cot blanket for my girlfriend’s baby due in November – she is British, he is Argentinean so I chose Paua shell colors to represent New Zealand and the new life they are building together down here.

 


Now my niece, bless her, she is a character and I love her to bits. Very crafty herself at almost-5 years old, she saw me working on the cot blanket and asked me to make her one for her 5th birthday in red, white and pink. (When I told her I had decided to do purple, white and pink she simply said, deadpan, “huh. That could work”. So funny!) I won’t go through trying to teach you to crochet, there are loads of tutorials and blogs online already but just thought I would share with you some of the things I learned in this project!

Now, the first thing you should know about me is that I get bored kind of easily. I started out making the two-toned granny squares, changing every round to a new color. Then, because I get bored easily, I changed it so that on one square it would end on a colored round and the next would end on a white round. Then instead of changing every round, I changed every second round. 

Tip 1: don’t cut the yarn when you change colors. Otherwise you are going to have to thread in a whole lot more loose threads than you really need to. It means that you will see the yarn on the wrong side of the blanket but trust me, it will make the final job a lot easier and you won’t even notice it!
When I had 8 squares done, I tried to get an idea of what sort of pattern might look good for the finished piece so tried laying it out. But really, it was too hard. My FB community was pretty evenly split on which way to call it! I took a picture and decided to wait and see before I started joining the squares together.

Tip 2: don’t be afraid to start a project without the end product firmly in mind. It just makes it more exciting when it comes time to try and cobble it all together and you aren’t locked into something  if you happen to change your mind when you are further through.

Originally I thought I would only have four granny squares per row, but realized quickly this would end up being too narrow to have enough coverage on a single bed. I had a bit of trouble trying to figure out how the middle row would go – I needed something that would fit with the rest of the squares on that row, but when I tried it out it didn’t look quite as I wanted it to. By shifting the center squares up one space it suddenly worked a whole lot better. 

Tip 3: Experiment! Crochet is great because it is quick – if something doesn’t look right, it doesn’t take long to take it apart and try other color combinations.

Tip 4: do what you have to to stay interested. I said already, I get bored easily. So when I was about halfway through how big I wanted the blanket to be, I decided to stitch it together to spread the workload and so I wouldn’t have loads of threading and sewing to do at the end.

I have to say it was very rewarding finishing the last of the granny squares. After doing a double-crochet border on the cot blanket (so time consuming!!) I decided to just do trebles around the joined squares, one in each color to make a border. It was quick (yay!) and it looked better than expected, though it did blend in some places more than I thought it might. 

If I am being brutal, it is probably still a tiny bit narrow for a single bed, but one more granny square would easily spread it out that little bit more.

So yep, those are probably the best tips I have if you are going to start a simple crochet project. It was quite fun doing something similar but a bit different, and I hope my niece will love it as much as I enjoyed doing it for her. I also hope she keeps it for years and years, and maybe even passes it on to her daughter one day.

Happy crafting!
 

Isn't the pink and purple adorable! You can check Leah out at her Pinterest page here.