>>>From: nerakmacd [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] I'm wondering which pillows you prefer, and why. I know that the ethafoam can become worn easier after much use with the pins. Is it the same with the straw, or does the straw tend to 'regroup' better after being used over and over with the pins.<<<
My first pillow was made from an old McCall's Needlework magazine, with felt roller and lightly-padded cardboard apron. The next was made during a class, a travel-size roller pillow. The base is wood, the roller is rug padding wrapped around a dowel (with a layer of wool blanketing), and the apron is fabric-covered, stuffed very densely with polyester batting (I believe that's wadding, in England). Then I made 3 cookie pillows. The first (24") had a wood base and was stuffed with polyester batting, but not densely enough. It sagged in the middle, and some pins have trouble penetrating densely-packed batting, so I don't recommend it. The second cookie (16") was stuffed with circles of rug padding, each bigger than the one below (yes, below--an inverted pyramid, so the topmost layer was continuous, bent down over the others), with wool blanketing over the padding. This is an excellent, inexpensive, easy home-made pillow. The third cookie (12") was stuffed with "wood grit". This is bits of wood, coarser than sawdust but finer than anything else. Well-stuffed, it makes a great pinning surface but it was heavier than the 16" one! And I got the stuff when they were getting rid of it at work--I have no idea where one would get more. I then made a bigger roller pillow, the base just like the travel one only larger. The roller is again rug padding and blanketing. I stuffed the apron with wood grit--bad move! Much too heavy. Then I started buying pillows. I have foam blocks (feels more like builder's polystyrene foam than polyethylene foam), a seagrass cookie, a small straw bolster, and a Simone Toustou (don't know what it's stuffed with, but it never smelled like seagrass or straw). Some people have blocks made from industrial-grade felt (1" thick). I bought some felt but haven't covered the pieces or made a frame for them. I wouldn't say foam or straw are one better than the other. Foam is too light by itself, it needs a wood base to make the pillow sit still. I don't like it for Midlands bobbins because they lay flat on the flat surface and are hard to grab, but Continentals have a narrow waist that sits above the flat surface and so are easier to grab. Straw and seagrass are *much* too much work to make pillows from, IMO, so I didn't have those till I'd "graduated" to buying pillows. But that was home-made vs. store-bought, not beginner vs. experienced. Robin P. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA http://www.pittsburghlace.8m.com/ - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
