Shelby's Giant Floor Pillow...

(Above: Pillow shown with the pillow case on)

A special request...

this GIANT floor pillow!

A friend of mine asked me to make her one of these pillows.

Because it can be quite expensive to make these, I try to thrift shop as much as possible for the supplies needed in order to make them.  I got lucky and found a ROLL of brown corduroy fabric for only $5.99 plus sales tax at a St Vincent DePaul Thrift Store!  I was able to use some of the corduroy fabric for the pillow itself.  I also found a bunch of brand new (still in the packages) zippers at the same thrift store for about $0.25 each, and bought them all, so I had an inexpensive investment into the zipper for the pillow as well.

I did purchase the printed fabric, which I used on one side of the pillow cover, on eBay, but could only get 1 yard of it, so I had to compensate with a different fabric for the opposite side of the cover.  I used some soft furry off-white fabric I had purchased from JoAnn's Fabric, for the opposite side, and filled in the sides of the pillow case with some of the brown corduroy fabric.  I used remnants of the printed fabric to make ties for holding the pillow case together at the opening.  I wish there had been enough remnant fabric to make 3 or 4 ties, but I only had enough to make 2 ties.  2 ties work, but a couple more would've looked better.

The most expensive part of making these giant floor pillows is the cost of the filling.  This particular pillow is 54"h x 54"w.  My filling of choice would be to use shredded foam...safer than styrofoam beads, and keeps it's shape longer and better than poly-fil.  However, for a pillow this size it's impossible to find any local retailer who sells shredded foam by bulk.  JoAnn's Fabric sells it, but in small bags.  I could purchase it online for real inexpensive, but then the shipping costs are what kills me!  If I use poly-fil, it can cost over $100 just for the fill because I'd have to buy so much of it.  So here's my solution to this problem...  I buy body sized pillows at Target for $9.99 +tax each...this giant floor pillow took 5 body sized pillows.  I leave the body pillows in tact and put them in the giant floor pillow.  The body pillows can be removed and replaced at any time if necesary!  (Like if they lose their fullness and go flat as most pillows do over time).  It's easier for my customers to replace the body pillows inside the giant floor pillow than it would be for them to replace shredded foam or hundreds of dollars worth of poly-fil.  It may have cost $50 to fill this giant floor pillow, but it's way cheaper than the alternatives!  It saves me money and in turn saves my customers money!  ;o)

Anyways...here are some more pictures of the pillow...

(Above: My son next to the uncovered pillow to give you an idea of its size)