Making it fit

Of late, I have been doing quickie projects out of T-shirts and other cast-offs. I made three more cat rice-catnip pillows from used pillow cases, to go to a shelter, and another reusable shopping bag from a T-shirt. I had been eyeing one of my cat beds. A visiting doggie had eaten the soft pillow that lined the bed so I decided to make another one from a T-shirt.

My thinking on the size: T-shirts stretch so if I make it approximately the size of the space it should stretch and flatten out and fill the space reasonably well. I wasn't counting on how the stuffing material would affect this outcome, however.

I recently picked up a partial bag of "polyfil" - aka "premium polyester fiberfill" at a thrift store outlet. Cost me 25 cents. So I figured this would do the job and I might throw in some T-shirt scraps as well.

In the past - deep, dark past - I had used kapok for stuffing stuff. This polyfil is a whole new thing. It's bouncy, it's washable, it keeps a shape. And it doesn't flatten down.

Thus this fit. Or lack of fit. That baby isn't flattening out to fit the shape.


However, the proof is in the pudding. The cat likes it. That's all I really wanted. But in the future I will make allowances for the amount of "loft" or whatever it's called, so my pillows fit the space better.

For the cats

Following instructions I found online (if I find the page again I'll link), I created a rice-catnip pillow for my cats. I started with an old pillowcase, cut off twice the size I wanted, folded the excess inside, sewed around, leaving one long side open. Then I stiched dividers (curved) and filled each one with a combination of white rice and catnip - not too much, enough to flatten out nicely - and sewed each portion closed before moving on to the next.


The pillow.

I heated it in the microwave (that's why the rice) and set it on the floor.

The kitties were interested.

Stretch was particularly interested. He played with it, rolled around it, dug into it, until he fell asleep.