My first Band Pillow
 

The Band Director at my school gave me two of their old Band Uniforms about 9 months ago to see if I could come up with anything to make out of them, like a pillow. I finally got tired of looking at this uniform hanging next to my sewing machine. I'm pretty sure I just didn't want to work on my income taxes, so this was a good diversion. I've never done anything like this before and thought it turned out pretty good. I have one more to make.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]461999[/ATTACH]Here's the uniform before I deconstructed it.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]462000[/ATTACH]Here is is as a finished pillow. I cut a 13" block from the front to start with. The school name came from the sleeve and I simply pressed a seam allowance on the bottom and right sides and stitched it in place. The silver trim around the name patch was salvaged from the collar. I just zig-zagged it to cover up the original stitches in the black patch. The two epaulettes came from the shoulders. I just basted them in place onto my main block. The buttons were sewn back on when it was done. I ironed a fusible interfacing to the back side of the main block for stability like I do with t-shirt quilts. The black border around the block came from the sleeves. I first added fusible interfacing to the sleeves, then cut them into 4" strips.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]462006[/ATTACH]This is a picture of the back of the pillow. My pillow finished at 18" square. Fortunately for me, the uniform zipper was 16" long and a heavy duty one. It also had 3 heavy duty snaps on the back, but only the center one remains on here. The back piece wasn't quite wide enough by itself, so I used one of the pant legs to add additional fabric to finish up the back.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]462009[/ATTACH]Here it is with the zipper opened. You can see my red pillow on the inside.

I had been dreading this project for the past 9 months because I had no clue where to begin. Once I came up with a plan, it came together quite nicely. Now I'm looking forward to making the other one!

That turned out so nice! Good job! You sound like me, you drag your feet until you come up with "the plan" and then you're off and running.

clever lady.... nice

Great job! You sound like me, dreading.....no idea where to start, then BAM you did it!!!!

love how you designed this

Looks great, super job. Lol! on the insert!

Very creative! I bet the Band Director was thrilled!

That got in there by mistake, and I couldn't figure out how to get rid of it in the edit process.

Oh well... :-)

I love how you kept the character of the band uniform! No mistaking that pillow for anything else....LOVE IT!!!!

Great job! I love it!

Great pillow, but just cracked up with that insert...sending that to a friend...will be appreciated!

That is a terrific project. Very sharp looking.

Turned out so nice!!!!!

OK so that is a supper pillow and a great memory item so what were you stressing about? You have more talent than you know.

Very pretty and smart idea ! thanks for sharing :-)

Hey, funny joke! Oh, and the pillow is supercalafragilisticexpealidocious! :-)

Agree with all the above...the pillow is fantastic, the band director with be delighted. And my husband got a good chuckle from the joke!

WOW, that is awesome. Fantastic job & sooooooooooooo creative !!!

Loved what you did with the uniform into a pillow and cracked me up with the joke. Quilters have to have a sense of humor.:D

What a wonderful pillow! You definitely have creative talent. Sometimes it is wise to ruminate on possibilities, then Just Do It. Fantastic use of the uniform. You might have created a new industry, as others have done by re-imagining wedding dresses. A husband or wife's business suit memento? Cheerleading or sports uniforms?

Love your imagination and ingenuity! You did a great job.....and the joke is great, even if you didn't intend for it to be in there!:D

That is way more beautiful than I'd ever imagined. Way to go! :thumbup:

Where did you find the joke? It's interesting how that capital is Sacramento, and you're from TX?

It came out wonderful!

Love the pillow and the insert!

Great job on the pillow! Love the joke, too.

Anita

I've been sewing since I was about 9, but this project was WAY out of my comfort zone. I made almost all of my clothes during high school and college because it was so much cheaper back then. For the past 20 years, I've focused primarily on quilting and cringe just looking at patterns for clothing. For 9 months, I couldn't envision anything out of that band uniform. While I enjoyed the final product, I much prefer working with cotton.

I have no clue where I found that joke, but I had downloaded it to email a friend. When I was trying to add the pictures of the pillow, I clicked on that one by mistake and thought I had deleted it. Had no clue it was still in my post until after I posted it. My friend's daughter is blond and she's always sending her blond jokes. I'm glad everyone has been enjoying the accidental joke as much as my pillow! LOL!

As a former band mom - I have to say that you did a truly wonderful job on that!!! So crisp - you can clearly see the formal disciplined beauty of the uniform you used. If you were able to get more of the old uniforms, you could probably make a bunch and sell them as fundraisers - I know that I'd have bought one!!!

Cindy