Tutorial - Car Nappin' Pillow

It has been a long time since small cars have been sold with Bench seats in the front. That means pretty much every car I have owned in the last 15 years or so have had Bucket Seats, which also means they have those head rests that are actually too high for me -- I am pretty short by average human standards, I guess.

Well, occasionally we go somewhere -- especially a ride on the ferry to Vancouver Island -- that allows for a bit of a nap in the car while waiting in line. A regular pillow just doesn't do the trick for me - my neck has no support and the head rest is way to hard to actually rest anything on.

In the last few months, we have been on the Ferry 8 times -- way to many times, but executor duties for my mothers estate has taken me over there to deal with the house sale, insurance, and bill paying. So. I have made myself a CAR NAPPIN' PILLOW.

I once had a Airline Neck Pillow and found it way to thick around the neck, which just pushed my head forward so my chin was resting on my breast bone, not comfy at all -- so after some thinking and testing, here is what I came up with. I have not provided actual measurements because you may find you need something slightly bigger or smaller.

Step 1: cut a full lengthwise piece of fabric, about 10 inches wide -- trim off the selvedge, so you have a piece that measures about 44" x 10".

Step 2: Press in half so that it is now 22" x 10" Approximately.

Step 3: fold over again so that it is about 11" x 10", do not cut anything yet.

Step 4: fold again, this time making a rectangle that measures about 5 1/2 " x 10" -- this makes it so two sides have folds and two sides are raw edges -- you are actually making two identical pieces that you will sew together.

Step 5: This is the tricky part. Mark a 'cut out' -- one edge is the long bottom edge of your fabric where all the edges are cut layers and the left side (in the picture) is folded over. This will become the 'bone' part of the pillow or the part that goes behind your neck. The piece I marked and cut out was 4 1/2" from the folded edges and 2 1/2 " from the bottom or cut edges.