When I attended the Long Beach International Quilt Festival with my two granddaughters last July, they were fascinated by an embroidery machine that was stitching an image of Minnie Mouse. The previous day, when we were not there, the demo embroidery sample had been Mickey Mouse and we got to take that sample home with us. It has about a 4" border on all four sides of Mickey before trimming. I promised the girls I would make Mickey into a pillow.
These embroidered images take literally hours to stitch completely. We had to leave before Minnie was finished but the girls were thrilled that we had Micky Mouse as a souvenir.
Based on the rectangular shape of Mickey Mouse, the pillow would be a non-standard shape. Even if I could, I would be unable to buy an appropriately sized pillow form. I had stowed away an old worn and and torn white bed sheet which I'd cut up, planning to use it as a base for a strip quilt. Cutting a piece of that sheet to the correct size, I used it and a bag of polyester stuffing to make my own pillow form.
All the light blue swirls in the embroidered background fill reminded me I had the perfect fabric in my stash for the pillow backing. There was enough that I could make a generous ruffle all around as well. Since I thought it was unwise to deal with a zipper next to all that bulk of the ruffle, I made an overlapping envelope back instead.
The Mickey Mouse embroidered section measures 10½" wide by 15¾" and I added a 2⅜" wide ruffle all around. The pillow is very plump and, taking that into account, the pillow measures approximately 15" wide and 19" tall. I can't wait to give Mickey to the girls when they visit at Thanksgiving. Yes, they liked it!
Vivian has been sleeping with the pillow. Thank you for making such a special memory with the girls.
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