Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Project : Paper-Sewn Pillow

Project : Paper-Sewn Pillow
Date : August 20th, 2007 at dusk
Materials : Thread, fabric, book you can decimate
Tools : Soldering iron, sewing machine, needle, scissors
Finished Product:

Process:

I happen to have been burning pages for another reason, but wherever you get the paper should be fine. The burning of the edges isn't necessarily required, but I think it makes them more interesting then a boring straight cut. But then again, I do love to burn paper for any and all reasons. I cut the pages out of the book by drawing the outline and pressing a wide-tipped soldering iron around the path, burning it one centimeter at a time. Takes time, but the end look is worth while.

Then, sew them together on the machine. I used a wide stitch and nice visible black thread. Be mindful that you can really re-angle the two pages once you start sewing so make sure they're lined up just right. I left the ends as just long threads (no backing up over stitches) and tucked the ends under every time I joined pieces. You'll notice that the paper goes only to two sides, rather then all four. This is because I didn't want to shape it to the pillow's bulge and putting bend on the pages in two directions wouldn't work well.

Then, sew on the edge fabric. Then, sew the back of the pillow on, right sides facing. What I did was just sew the fabric-to-fabric parts. That leaves a whole side un-sewn and gaps where fabric meets paper. Then turn it right-side out. Now pinch the fabric at the fabric-meets-paper seems and use a fancy stitch to sew it close. This doesn't make for a perfect edge, but I figure it's stronger then trying to hand sew it and putting a lot of wiggle strain on the stitches.

I haven't quite figured out how to close the last fabric-to-fabric seem though...

Thoughts :
It looks mighty pretty, though it is severely impractical. The pages mean nothing, alas- they just come from some random stupid book. Using a meaningful book would be fun. Thoughts of laminating or re-enforcing it somehow are now being contemplated.
--image I left at home, will be uploaded by Thur Aug 23--

1 comment:

The Bloggist said...

It's become a lot of fun to rip up meaningless books, hasn't it?