The 'Manly' Reading Pillow

Plaid shirts are practically my oldest son's year round uniform, which has led to some good natured teasing from the rest of his family.   Being the affable fellow he is and in defense of his fashion sense, he smilingly declares, "Plaids are just Manly".  All teasing aside, I happen to like using plaid shirts for patchwork projects, like this quilt for my son.  Seeing that my plaid stash isn't waning any, plus the fact that said son loves to read,  is it any surprise I came up with this project? LOL

Pattern to make an updated and pre-cut friendly version of this reading pillow found HERE

 

 The pillow itself is a fairly simple design.  The main body of it is in one piece (what better project for my first foray into patchwork hexagons?) and the end panels are right angle triangles.

 

 The patchwork piece is machine quilted while the end panels are one layer cut from a shirt and framed by piping I made using a red plaid shirt. A zipper runs the full width of the bottom of the cover, to make it removable for washing.  My newest serger was used to  finish the raw edges (using only two threads - which I find so amazing), so that laundering the plaid cover won't make it fall apart.  Especially important, as this son is one to regularly launder things.

 

Lastly, there's a pocket, taken from a shirt front, stitched onto the one end panel for my son to slip his MP3 into.  I like that little extra touch of function because I know how much he loves listening to music when he's hanging out in his man-cave.

I had to share this shot, taken yesterday.  The  vibrant colour of the leaves against the sky was so gorgeous. Nature is so inspiring and Autumn is here in all her glory.  Thankfully, sunny days have arrived so that I can get out to enjoy the beauty of it.  I'm storing up the energy of those colours and savouring the sunshine.   Hope your days are every bit as brilliant!   Happy sewing....

EDITED to ADD...

I now have a PDF pattern (the Triple Hex Reading Pillow) available for purchase in my Payhip store (click here) so you can sew your own version of my patchwork hexie reading pillow.  The pattern has been updated so that you can use pre-cuts to make it, but of course you can keep it scrappy like my "Manly" original.  Enjoy!