A friend gifted me with a nice collection of upholstery samples some time ago. They are nice samples of chenille and ultra suede. Some are placemat size, a few are pillow top size, and some are small in size – approximately 9 x 6 inches.
I made a cute little hot pink ultra suede pumpkin out of one of the samples.
Have a look here.
But the rest of the samples have just sat waiting on me to come up with some idea for them.
I have a small one seat bench that needs a new seat cover and I have been looking at my stash of upholstery fabrics and scraps trying to decide which one I’d like to use. I considered one of the larger sample pieces that might cover it when the idea struck. I dug out the samples to see if I thought they might translate well to my idea and decided to give it a try.
A dear friend was recently diagnosed with breast cancer and will begin chemotherapy next week. I have two other dear friends who are cancer survivors and had heard of portacath pillows through them. It is common for a chemotherapy patient to have a portable catheter installed in the upper side of their chest just below the collar bone. They receive their treatments, meds, and have blood drawn through this catheter.
The location makes the patient sensitive to pain from seatbelt use. Hence the portacath pillow rests between the seatbelt and the chest to cushion the sensitive area from the belt.
Not really knowing what proper dimensions should be, I of course consulted Pinterest which led me to this site where I got the dimensions.
I cut the pillow part of the project from two coordinated small chenille samples. The samples are nappy and quite soft.
Luckily the samples were wide enough that the trimmings from the side and end were long and wide enough to use as a small strip to mount the strip of velcro. The inspiration source simply used the velcro alone as a way of securing it to the seatbelt, but I wanted a more finished look and decided to sew the velcro strip to a strip of the sample fabric.
The leftover strips cut from the side and end of the pillow pieces were sewn together for the width necessary to sew on the velcro. I folded down one end for a clean finish, folded both sides in and stitched the velcro over the raw edges.
Stitching the velcro onto the fabric tab
I then stay-stitched the two velcro strips in place at the halfway point along the long side of the pillow pieces.
Placing the right sides of the pillow together, I stitched around the perimeter leaving about a two inch opening to turn the pillow.
After turning the pillow, it is stuffed with fiber filling and slip-stitched closed across the end.
The back of the portacath pillow that rests against the chest.
The front of the portacath pillow which attaches onto the backside of the seatbelt.
The velcro tabs secure it in place around the seatbelt.
I am pleased with the way it turned out and hope that it fits the seatbelt well.
It’s not a gift I really want to give a friend as I wish she would not have to go through this, but hope that it helps her in some small way on her journey to recovery.
xo, Faith
Faith, what a sweet and thoughtful way to use sample fabrics. I know your friend will be so thankful and prayers that her chemo won’t be so difficult!
Thank you, Pam. Eek! Am I really 4 months behind in responding?! Must do better and use you as a good example for blogging! Thanks for stopping by!