Last week I was lucky enough to attend the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing. It was lots of fun and I got to meet so many inspiring and accomplished women! I also got to hang out with my coworker Ibis who up until now I have only spent time with at volunteer events. I had a great time getting to know her and couldn’t have hoped for a more fun travel buddy!
I on the other hand may have proved just how much of a klutz I am sometimes! On the day I arrived we headed out of the airport to call an Uber. While I’m looking at my phone to call the car, I backed up a step without looking. This was a bad idea. Someone’s roller bag was directly behind me and I tripped over it and started to fall over. For a second I thought I might catch myself, but in another second I was on my butt on the pavement, laughing hysterically. Good going Lexi! I still have a huge bruise to remember it!
Later that day we went to lunch at this awesome Mexican restaurant and for some crazy reason I decided to take my leftovers back to the room (as if I was planning to eat them). I guess I just hate to waste food. Anyway, we decided to head to the convention center first before heading back in the other direction to the hotel. At some point during the long walk the to-go box upended itself without my knowledge and juice from the beans started leaking all over my pants. Strike two! I only brought 2 pairs of jeans so I had to wash them in the hotel room sink.
Strike three occurred when Ibis and I showed up at a private event hosted by Pandora. We had both registered in advance but I was on the wait list. Luckily the woman said that we were so early she would let me in. She asked for my name and I said and spelled “Alexis Colton”. She looked puzzled for a minute and then said “I don’t have an Alexis Colton, but I do have an Alexia Coltom”. By this point Ibis and I were cracking up at my new alter ego. What a day!
After the conference I was so exhausted that I slept soundly all the way home from Houston on my new inflatable neck pillow. I used to have a non-inflatable neck pillow but I lost it one time on my way to or from somewhere. Amy introduced me to the clever, compact inflatable neck pillow that I can just shove in the bottom my backpack when I’m done using it. The one thing I dislike about this pillow is the texture. It is made of some fake plastic velvety coating that gives me the heebie jeebies when I touch it. It also has some tabs that stick out around the neck area and are slightly annoying. Since I’ll be using this neck pillow quite a few more times in the next month I decided to upgrade it by creating a nice soft fleece pillowcase. I think an inflatable pillow and pillowcase would be a cute gift for a buddy who travels all the time!
Pillowcase for Inflatable Travel Pillow
What you’ll need:
- 1/2 yard of polar fleece (or so)
- pattern here (if you are using the same neck pillow)
- or pen and paper to draft your own pattern if not
- Skip to step 3 if you’re using my pattern. Take your deflated neck pillow and place it flat on your drafting paper. Trace.
Trace neck pillow
- Add 1/2″ seam allowance. Also add a line for your pocket about 4 inches up from the bottom of one end. Add another line 1.5 inches below this line. (See pattern and instruction below for why).
Add markings for pocket.
- Cut one piece of fleece using the entire pattern.
Cut one piece of fleece using entire pattern.
- Cut a second piece of fleece from one end of the pattern to the furthest line on the other side.
Cut second piece up to furthest line.
- Cut a third piece of fleece from the other end of the pattern to the furthest line from this end (should look like a pocket).
Cut third piece.
- Pin under 1/2″ on each of the straight edges of you pieces from step 4 and step 5. Stitch.
Pin 1/2″ on each straight end. Stitch.
- Right sides facing in place small piece from step 5 on top of piece from step 3. Place piece from step 4 on top of both. Hems on piece 4 and 5 should overlap slightly. Pin.
Place piece 3, piece 5 then piece 4.
- Stitch around entire pillow, backstitching where the pocket pieces overlap to reinforce.
Stitch around entire pillowcase.
- Trim seams and turn inside out.
Trim seams, turn right side out.
- To use, put deflated pillow into the case then inflate.
Place deflated pillow into case. Inflate when ready to use.
- To store, deflate the pillow then fold the pillow and case into the pocket at the opposite end.
To store, fold pillow and case up into the pocket of the case.
Post sewing nap.
