Seat-belt Travel Pillow Tutorial

 I keep seeing items for sale on Etsy and thinking "I could totally make that!" Well this is one of those items. I'm not trying to steal somebody's idea and sell it, I'm just telling you all for FREE how I made my own version of something I saw...totally legal, right?

It's a Seat-Belt Travel Pillow :) Tada! We are taking a road trip this weekend and so I'm hoping that this pillow will make the drive a little easier on my 31-week-pregnant self. And here is how I made it:

 I cut two 17" x 17" squares ( Mine are in contrasting fabric, cause I wanted it to look cool when the pillow was folded over) If you want a longer version of the one I made, then just cut the fabric 17" x whatever length you like.

I pinned the squares right sides together (pretty sides facing each other) and then placed pins on the edge at 2", 6", 11", and 15" across the bottom. Click on the picture to make it larger if you want to see the pins.

I only stitched where you see the pink dotted line (yeah my photo edited skills stink) - the top, the sides, and the bottom from 1-2", from 6-11", and from 15-17". You want to have two 4" size openings at the bottom. Hope that makes sense.

Then I turned the whole pillow cover right side out through one of the openings and ironed it flat.

I found the exact middle of the cover and then measured 1 1/2" from the middle on either side. I used dressmakers chalk (which was really hard to see) to mark a line at each of these points. (see where the pink dotted lines are?? again, bad photo-editing).

This 3" middle section between the stitches will be the part that goes under the seat belt.

Then I got out my fiber fill stuffing and STUFFED IT! I used way more than I thought I was going to, so keep that in mind. And don't be stingy with the stuffing, you want it to be firm cause I'm sure over time it will flatten a little.

Then I turned the edges of the openings in and stitched across the bottom very close to the edge.

See how it folds over?

Tada! The finished product! If I was to change anything about this project I would probably have stuffed it even more and if I was making it for a child I would not have used a light colored fabric.

See how it works, the seat belt goes in the middle and then you fold it over and lean your head on it....it works really awesome in the backseat where you don't have the option to tip your seat back.

And it can be used as a neck pillow or for lower back support :)

P.S. I didn't get a chance to post this until after my weekend trip. I figured I would give a "review" on it now. It worked awesomely...I definitely would have stuffed it more, but I can always pick out a couple stitches and do it now. We did alot of sitting in uncomfortable chairs at the seminar, so I used it more for lower back support than anything else!