Long Lumbar Pillow Tutorial

A couple weeks ago I showed you C's new extra long lumbar pillow.  It was created out of a need for color in his monochromatic room. 

Today I will share with you the steps I took to make this pillow.  As I said in my last post, this project is really not that expensive if you are able to sew, and if you can find a fabric you love, at a great price.  This pillow cost me less than $20 including the down pillow form.  However, if you were going to have one custom made, the cost would be well over $100 and depending on the work room you choose, perhaps even a couple hundred dollars.  As always, if you have any questions please ask me at the bottom of the tutorial under comments.  That way I can share my answers with everyone.  (Don't be afraid to ask me even the most obvious questions, I have been known to leave a step out here and there....) For this project I am going to show you the general steps to take so that you can make your pillow any size to fit your space.

Step 1:
Finding your inspiration fabric.  You will need approximately 2 yards for a pillow this size.

Step 2:
Cutting out your pieces. I like to use round household objects usually found in my kitchen to create circles...for this project I used a pie pan for the diameter of the circle.  Trace the circle with a fabric pencil, and then cut it out.  All other measurements come from this cut.

Cut out the rest of your pieces.  For this step you need to determine the circumference of your circle.  The first way you can do this is by measuring the diameter of the circle (the length of the entire circle through the center point) So in this case, 10 inches.  Multiply that number by pi (3.14) and you will have a length of 31.4 inches.  Add one inch for seam allowance so we need to cut our long piece of fabric 32.4 inches long.  The long strips are for the self cording.  (Cut them 2 inches longer than your circumference, and 2 inches wide)

If you are terrible at math like me, you can do it this way too...

Pin your circle to your remaining long piece of fabric.  As you follow your circle, you will be gathering the length of the rectangle. Add one inch to allow for seam allowance, then cut.

Step 3: 

Sew your cording.  Use your zipper foot, and put the needle in the left most position.  (I sew this entire pillow with my zipper foot in the left most postition so I can be right up on the cord).

Sew cord to the circle piece.  Repeat.

Sew your zipper into the long rectangular piece. I am going to assume you know how to sew in a zipper.  If you don't leave me a comment and I will write a zipper tutorial.

Sew long rectangular piece together.  (Sew fabric together on either side of the zipper.)

Sew rectangular piece to the round pieces.

Your pillow case is finished!  Now follow the steps omit the cording step to make the pillow form.  I always stuff with feathers. (I buy cheap down pillows and use the feathers in my custom pillow forms) Because this pillow is so large, I used two standard queen pillows to fill this one form.  I am able to buy pillow forms at Ollies for $6.99 each.  This is the most expensive part of the project.

Stuff pillow form in case, and ENJOY!

Rebekah

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