Paddling Pillow Project.

From the moment I first set eyes on the Crazy Creek AIR Seat/ Backrest Cushion, I thought it would do a great job doubling as a camping pillow. Today, I made a soft, polarfleece pillowcase to help make this dream a reality. I'm sure there are a million different (and better) ways to make this case, but if you want to try my method, below is a link to my methodology:

http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/7576/paddlingpillow.png

Some thoughts after creating this project:

• It could be slimmed down much more. there's lots of vertical clearance for the pillow, but not enough to let the cushion slip too much within the case. If space was an issue, I'd make the design much more streamlined.


• If I was more worried about space, I'd probably only make the pillow with a single layer of polar fleece. I wanted something extra padded and warm, so going with the two layers made sense to me.
  
• Velcro tabs on the inside of the flap would make it extra secure, but I don't think it's needed in my case.
  
• "White Lightening" (a name given to my sewing machine by a bunch of middle school kids) had to work extra hard on this project, at times having to go through 6 layers of polar fleece! Take the thicker parts of the case more slowly on the machine...my good ol' girl kicked butt on this one, though!

The pillowcase is a bit too large to fit into the cushion's stuff sack, as illustrated in the picture to the right. The good news? I had a stuff sack for a climbing harness that I got for free from camp that will work just fine. It will probably just be rolled up with my sleeping bag when camping, though.