Bolster Pillow Fiasco

Why do I keep going on hiatus all the time?  This time I have a very good excuse.  Steve and I are no longer together as of about 2 weeks ago.  It was very hard at first, but it is getting easier.  I have been spending time with my kids and working.  My well meaning friends have been introducing me to new people.  Heck, I even have a new friend who works for Folger's coffee.  So, I have been getting free coffee now!  Woot! Woot!  I have found one I love Coconut Cream Pie.  I add a little vanilla creamer and I am set. Lol.  Anyway, I just haven't been feeling like crafting much as I adjust to it just being me with the kids. 

That being said... I bought some actual vintage blue and white striped mattress ticking awhile back while on a shopping excursion with a good friend of mine.  It was a really long piece but odd shaped.  I wasn't sure at first what I wanted to do with it until recently.  There were some stained parts on it and I don't even want to think about what it is.  LOL So, I looked to make sure I had enough good parts to make a bolster pillow case.

 

At first, I wasn't sure whether to make 2 pillow shams or a bolster. For a very long time I have used pillow shams and now they are falling apart.  So I went to my trusty Facebook friends and I decided on one single long pillowcase.   One of my friends told me that she had bought one from Family Heirloom Weavers and just went and bought a cheap body pillow to stuff it with. Bing! The light bulb went on.  Of to their website I went hoping to find the dimensions of theirs.  I found that it was 21" X 57".  That gave me some direction.  Off to the cutting board I went.  I have no idea why this measurement threw me off so much.  I had to keep measuring and remeasuring.   When I cut I always give myself extra fabric because I always mess up something.  I cut my pieces matched it all up and sewed around the case.  Easy Peasy! I thought this is going great!  Well, you know I should probably wash this now that it is done before I put my head or body near it. Into to the washer it went.  What? Wait why are there so many strings. I shrugged it off and threw it into the dryer.  Ahhh yes it's finished.  Let's get it out and put it on the pillow.  I take it out of the dryer only to find...

None of the seams held!!!!! They all pulled out because mattress ticking ravels as you can see. All of my seams were now gone.  GRRRRRRRR!!!!! Now what?!?!!? Well, I threw it on my sewing table and walked away. I was so upset it didn't work that I didn't even want to see it for a few days.  Plus I was trying to figure out how I was going to fix it. I am NOT going to waste this fabric!  Today, finally, I went downstairs and attempted to fix it.  What I ended up doing to it is folding over the edges and sewing through all 4 layers instead of 2 like normal.  Unfortunately, I did had to shorten the overall width on both sides.  The length was still ok though.  So, here it is all finished.

I really like it.  It is an awesome addition to MY bed.  It's awesome creating things just for me and not having to think if someone else will like it. :-) 

Have a great weekend my friends.