Made by: Polly Carlson

If you’re familiar with my blog and other projects for Fairfield, you’ll know I love a good reading pillow. A fun and comfy place to relax with a book helps entice reluctant readers. I try to make several for each of my kids teachers. My second child has his own unique tastes and last year he decided to learn some basic Japanese, so when we were deciding what kind of pillows to make for his teacher, he wanted one to incorporate Japanese into it. We found some fabric with Japanese characters and decided the Japanese character for “Book” would be great for a reading corner.

Instructions

Step One

From your background fabric cut 2 – 17″ squares.

Step Two

Trace the Japanese “Book” character design onto the papery side of the paper-backed fusible web. Note that the character will intentionally print in reverse because the image flips as we make our pillow.

Cut out the design from the paper-backed fusible web and iron onto the BACK of your white cotton fabric. If you’re using plain white fabric there won’t be a front or back, but if you opt for something with a print, you need to iron it to the BACK.

Peel off the paper backing, position in the center of the block, and iron down securely.

Step Three

Cut a 16″ piece of Smooth Fusible Fusible Fleece interfacing. With the tack side toward the back of character block iron onto the fabric using manufacturer’s instructions. This will give our pillow cover more structure and also keep our fabric from puckering when we stitch around our Japanese Book Character.

Step Four

Using thread to match your book character, stitch around all the edges with a tight zigzag or satin stitch to enclose all the raw edges and give it a machine embroidered look. Do NOT backstitch. Instead leave your thread tails long and pull them through to the back of your fabric and tie a knot.