Union Jack Pillow

Recently I decided to try sewing to see if I like it...I do!  I enjoy the creative process of thinking through how I'm going to get fabric and thread to create the image in my mind!  I have a good friend who has had the patience to help me through this learning process.  (She's recently started sharing some of her great lessons on her blog - check it out!)

One of my first projects was creating a Union Jack pillow.  

As I've mentioned before my other half is British so I like to have little splashes of his homeland scattered around our home!  I was also in need of a big comfy pillow to make my seat on the sofa a bit more comfortable! 

I had a grand vision in my mind.  I wanted to use some of the sheepskin I picked up during a recent trip to England and I wanted the center of the pillow to be the Union Jack.  How hard could it be, right?  Sigh...maybe not hard, but tricky for sure!  

The first thing I learned was the Union Jack is a very tricky flag.  I was lucky to find a great step by step description of the flag, you can see it here. 

Creating the Union Jack was the most complicated part of the whole project.  It required lots of planning, thinking, planning and then a bit more thinking before cutting!  

I gathered some corduroy fabric remnants with a variety of wales.  This combined with the sheepskin added some great visual texture! 

The first thing we did was measure all the parts of the flag.  (Don't forget measure twice, cut once!) 

Sewing Teacher Extraordinaire

 The next step was to create the stripes.  Make the stripes twice as wide as you need and sew them up right sides together so they are like a tube, then flip them inside out so the right side is now outside and you have a nice neat stripe! 

Continue this process for all the stripes then assemble them following the flag pattern so you ensure you get the red stripes in the right position.  

Once the flag was assembled and sewn together we were ready to attach the sheepskin to the sides and back of the pillow.  I quickly learned that sheepskin is very thick and hard to sew because of the nap.  

One of the tricks is to sew slowly and make sure you're tucking the nap in to prevent it from getting sewn into the seam.  

Valentine quickly made this pillow her favorite.  

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There's a hole in the driveway...Dear Liza...

There's a hole in the driveway...Dear Liza, dear Liza...

That is the song that played over and over in my head as we patched the hole in the driveway.  It was actually more of a divot or a trench caused by the local borough paving the road higher than my garage.  This then caused my car to scrape every time I pulled into the garage - a TERRIBLE sound!!

We thought we'd need to pay an asphalt contractor to come and pave the area for us but then we heard of coldpatch!  (There are many varieties available.  The product we chose did a good job but since I do not have a comparison I will not endorse a specific product.)

This option turned out to be a fairly cheap alternative to using a contractor and it was a simple quick evening DIY project - about 1 hour start to finish!

Before you begin you want to make sure the pothole or area to be leveled is clear of debris as best you can.  Now you're ready to patch!

Step 1: Use an asphalt crack filler to create a bonding layer.  It's a thick liquid that needs to be spread out across the entire area you're patching.  Make sure to use an old broom or chip brush - you'll never use it again once the crack filler dries! 

Step 2: Empty a bag of coldpatch onto your area.  It's an interesting consistency, but low odor and no dust! 

Step 3: Rake the coldpatch out. 

Step 4: Once the coldpatch is spread out you will need to pound it down.  This helps fill in any gaps and also help solidify the patch.  (Depending on the size of your patch you may consider checking to see if it is level before moving onto Step 5.)

Step 5:  Drive over the patch several times. You can drive over the patch as soon as you're finished so we figured that would be a great way to ensure the coldpatch is pounded down well. 

The patch has held up well, we had rainy days, sunny days and freezing temperatures...it survived it all! 

I couldn't believe how easy and inexpensive this project was.  

Our "hole" was about 3' X 2', which seemed large when we started thinking about this option.  Now that we've done it, I'd consider doing an even larger area! 

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