Short introduction to the use of sewing machines/Sewing labs/Dreamo

Dreamo is a pillow made taking in count the shape and anatomy of the person that will use the pillows, it's design and manufacture takes around one hour.

Introduction
After trying many pillows with the hope to find the right one, no one seem to do it's function properly, which is to give cushion to the body without creating a pressure or bulk in the area for the head, neck and body that touch the pillow.

A not so convenient pillow paradigm
I noticed the following design mistakes the pillows:

Currently most of pillows use a horizontal-rectangular shape, they are designed for mass production, with the same amount of filling material creating a pressure inside the pillow in order to maintain it's shape uniform. That design has the following problems:

1.- The horizontal-rectangular design covering areas where we do not sleep (horizontal), instead of using this material to cover areas such as the neck and upper spine, the extra unused material could be used instead to support and cushion these other areas.

2.- The horizontal-rectangular design keeps the head in the center of the pillow, ignoring the upper spine, does not cushion the upper spine and does not align the head and neck, this creates a misalignment in the head, neck and spine.

3.- The horizontal-rectangular design focuses in give cushion to the head only, but this rectangular design puts the pressure on the crown of the head and the distribution of cushion for the neck and shoulders is awkward due the fact that the pillows rectangular shape takes care only of the pillow rectangular shape ignoring completely the three dimensional anatomy of the person that uses it.

4.- In order to keep its shape, rectangular pillows uses the infill and materials with that that maintain its pressure towards the surface in order to maintain its shape, this result in a bulky center of the pillow and that pressure is pushes against the head of their users.

The problem when the horizontal-rectangular designed pillows keep their shape by the fact of being bulky in the center is that it maintain a pressure of the material towards the pillow surface, this will be also a pressure toward the user head. The user also have an inner pressure towards it's own head surface, this will be added to the weight of it's head towards the pillow that also has it's own pressure towards it's surface. Therefore, we will have two objects with pressure towards their surfaces (pillow and user head and body), bot already with tension toward their surface. The pillow surface is the area were the tension or pressure is supposed to be reduced and the material should not be pushing against its user. The pillow infill or material should be able to move towards the sides in order to reduce the pressure in the pillow center pressure and soften it's surface giving a better reception to the user head, neck and body.

5.- In the horizontal-rectangular most of the pillow material or volume to the sides, where we do not sleep.

6.- There is not teller measuring the size or length or weight of the user body or head, therefore, the pillow produced is not make to cover the user needs.

The horizontal-rectangular design design could be convenient to the manufacturers due for the following reasons:


 * Since the manufacturers use 3 sizes, they are easy to cut and produce.


 * The rectangular design eliminates the use of a tailor or a person that takes the measurement of the user, ignoring completely the user anatomy, the user weight, the user body shape.. rectangular pillows are mass produced to be sold ignoring the users comfort.


 * Ignoring users anatomy or head and body form of the user, eliminates the need of hire tailors to measure the pillow users and the need for pillow part with specific lengths, is easier to produce 3 pillows sizes than million of pillows combinations and measures for each of the customers.


 * * The materials and design for rectangular pillows are used in a form that focus in the pillows shape, eliminating workforce (tellers), the user measures, anatomy and comfort. Current pillow design uses less external fabric material than bigger pillows that covers users body areas, giving the illusion of being big while most of the pillows area is unused except for the users head and part of the neck. Using less material and less parts (One part in the cases of the pillows that not use a central line to allow pillow expansion) and less thread to hold the parts. The excess of material could be repurposed to cover the area of the neck and upper spine, and the excess of filling material and pressure could be used in other pillows.

Rectangular mass produced pillows that ignore the measure of the users in exchange for a lower price defeats their own purpose that is create users maximum comfort, exchanging it for a design that could be in many cases uncomfortable and even create unnecessary pressure or misalignment in the users head or body.

Disadvantages of using mass produced pillows

 * We are not able to select the materials for each component of the pillow, in designer pillows we are not given the option to select what materials we want on the pillows.

The rectangular mass produced pillow not just goes against it's own purpose, it sacrifices the comfort and rest of user during their whole life, and the rest of all the generations and civilizations that uses them.

The benefit of using many pillows and noticing the benefits of each one is that it allowed me to understand each pillow mistakes, get the best part of these pillows and integrate them in one single pillow design that is personalized, reduce pressure and at the same time creates cushion according to each user needs.

Manufacturers do not allow user to choose the materials, colors, sources as they desire.

Dreamo: The pillow of your dreams.
This pillow covers the complete area of the head, neck, back and buttocks, releasing and dispersing the pressure received by the pillow and bed towards the pillow and bed sides instead of towards our own head.

Many users do not need a pillow that keeps is shape, instead of that, need a pillows that serves it's purpose, being comfortable and be able to modify it's shape or infill distribution at any time.

A teller should measure the head, neck and upper spine of the user in order to create a pillow that not just receive and cushion the head of the user, but also receive it with the right amount of pressure, releasing the unnecesary pressure towards the sides, and at the same time, keeps alligned the head, neck and upper spine of the user.

The Dreamo pillows intends to correct all this mistakes used by thousand of years.


 * Uses a design that considers the anatomy of the human body, head, back, neck and buttocks, the three dimensional curves of the bones and muscles, allowing a cushion that releases muscle and bone pressure.


 * Add an intermediate frame between the top and bottom of the pillow to allow that the filling material expand towards the sides when necessary instead of keeping pushing them towards the center of the pillow.


 * Dreamo design allows to change its shape according the users weight or preference at any time, using each material and part to focus on the user comfort allowing the pillow form to be changed freely by the user at any moment of the day or night.


 * We have freedom to select the pillow materials for each component of the pillow, this will allow us to chose the quality, softness, purity, healthy and safe materials, some of the options are:

Dreamo paradigm
Convenience of switching to a new pillow design:


 * The material used in The horizontal-rectangular design could be used instead in the area each user sleeps, with a vertical orientation, this also could align our head, our neck and spine, giving to the whole upper volume the correct alignment.
 * Ideally a dreamo pillow could be made for a user after taking the user measures, choosing the user materials, textures and colors and the level of pressure and height of the pillow.
 * There could be a in-be·tween option, where 3 or 4 sizes could be mass produced with different levels of pressure, this pressure could also be measured in order to standardize them.

Materials
The materials needed are the following:


 * Scissor


 * Thread.


 * Tape measure with a length of at least 5 feet (60 inches)

Fabrics
Fabrics can be a single fabric in case of cotton, wool or kapok filling. If feathers are used, a thicker fabric is used called ticking.

In fabrics stores, fabrics are measured in yards, each yard is equivalent to 36 inches. The wide of the material is stated are measured in inches and are shown on the side of the materials were are packed or placed, many materials had a wide of 40 or 44 inches wide that is more than enough for our project, since the wide of our pillow is 30 inches, so we only need to calculate how much fabric we will buy for the length of both sides of the pillow and the line that will connect them (and allow the expansion of the pillow).

The size for the materials is at least the length of the pillow, the pillow we will make will have a length of 50 inches, in this case We need at least 2 sides to make a pillow, so we will have to buy in this case 3 yards of material or 108 inches, in order to not be short of materials during the middle of the sewing process.

Pillow external fabric
During the selection of the material we can choose the color of the material, the softness of the material, the type of material. In this case I choose one with the following details:

Color: Honeydew Fabric: 100 % color. Wide: 44 inches (the material came with this wide). Length 3 yards or 108 inches.

Other options: Cotton, wool, feathers Goose, etc.

Pillow Ticking

 * Pillow Ticking must be used in case that feathers are used as infill since they can pass though cotton fabric and release allergens and feathers though its use since the first day of use with the possible cause of pneumonia in extreme cases.

Infill
Kapok filling: low price and natural

Equipment

 * A sewing machine, or needle and thread.

Design
For it's design only need to make a few measures, mark the areas to cut in the fabric, cut the pieces, sew the 4 pieces together, fill the pillow and sew the last segment.

The project was initially a pillow for side sleepers, but when designing the pillow I put two pillows together and noticed that a pillow that support the whole back and the head will reduce the tension in the neck and allow the whole body rest while at the same time maintaining an light inclination of the uppers side of the body (head and back), allowing the blood flow to the legs while at the same time eliminates the tension in the neck and head.

Measuring and cutting the area of the pillow
Measure the areas for your body, put yourself in a sleep position and take the following measures:

a.- The distance from the top of your head to the end of your buttocks (close to your legs):

In my case: 35 inches is de distance your head to the end of your buttocks. In your case: ____ inches

b.- The distance of the wide of your whole body from one side to the other side: In my case: 24 inches wide. In your case: ____ inches wide.

Cutting the upper and lower fabrics for the pillow
Cut 2 rectangular pieces for the pillow, this will be the upper and lower area of the pillow, it will be a square that covers your whole upper part: 35x24 inches. In your case: ___ inches x ___ inches

Warning: Pillows that use feather filling must contain the pillow with Pillow Ticking (also made with cotton), since they prevent the feathers to pass though cotton fabric and release allergens and feathers though its use since the first day of use with the possible cause of pneumonia in extreme cases. If feathers are used, these material measuring and cutting will be for the pillow thicken and after that an additional cotton layer can be added if desired.

Measures for the sections of the pillow
Measure the following distances:

The distance from the end of your buttocks to the start of your buttocks (upper part): In my case 7 inches. In your case: ___ inches.

The distance from the start of your buttocks to the start of your ribs: In my case 6 inches. In your case: ___ inches.

The distance from your shoulders to the start of your ribs: In my case __ inches. In your case: ___ inches.

The distance from the start of you neck to your shoulders or upper back. In my case __ inches. In your case: ___ inches.

The distance from the top of your head to the start of your neck (or your chin) In my case __ inches. In your case: ___ inches.

Adding 3 inches to each of the previous measures
To each one of this distances or segments you will add 3 inches, this will allow 1.5 inches up and down freedom degree, this will be 10, 9, etc.

In both of the big rectangles (top and bottom of the pillow) mark the area where your neck starts, taking in count the 3 added inches...

In my case it is 10 inches from the buttocks towards the head or 25 inches from the head towards the buttocks.

From this part you will mark a line towards the center of the head or upper part, then you will draw a semicircle from the left side going to the top part of the head, then towards the other side of the pillow,

This will be the drawing of a semi-circle that will be the supporting area for the head (not a triangle), cut this part with scissors, this will give the pillow a tongue shape (instead of a rectangular shape), while at the same time will allow us to eliminate unnecessary material and eliminate any heat excess.

Measuring, cut and marking the sides of the pillow
Cut 2 long rectangles for the sides of the pillow:

They will be 50 inches long and 3 inches tall; It was original 35 inches, but we will added 3 inches for each one of the 5 segments where we added material. This will allow us to have excess material in case of needing it during the sewing of the pieces, this will avoid to be short of material in this part.

This long rectangles will connect the top of the pillow with its bottom, it will be their intermediate area that connect both sides, and will allow the infill to be dispersed towards the sides. The initial shape of this 2 long side pieces will be a rectangle, in this case 50x3 inches... the long can be changed, this will be the distance from your buttocks to the top of your head.

Initially these were two long rectangle, 50x3 inches, but now we will modify this long rectangles in some areas to give them a high of 3 inches or a lower part of 1.5 inches, this will allow the infill to be dispersed towards the sides rather than keep it pushing towards the head, neck and back, according the anatomy of our body.

It will give the pillow a height of 1.5 inches in the areas that we want to increase material or pressure and 3 inches in the area that we want to reduces material or pressure in order to give more cushion when is needed or reduce pressure in areas of the body closer to the bed. The use of this will allow the proper distribution of material, reducing pressure and increasing comfort and cushion, for this we will mark dots in this rectangles:


 * In the lower extreme or lower part mark a dot from the base of the rectangles to its top, that is 3 inches, then add the following dots:

____ inches + ___ inches = ____ inches.
 * In the position center of your buttocks (in my case around 5 inches from the extreme of the rectangle) mark a dot at 1.5 inches from the base of the rectangle.

____ inches + ___ inches = ____ inches.
 * Mark a dot 1.5 inches from the base of the rectangle at the spot where is located your the beginning of your lower rib.

____ inches + ___ inches = ____ inches.
 * Mark a dot at 3 inches from the base of the rectangle at the spot where is the center of your neck.

____ inches + ___ inches = ____ inches.
 * Mark a dot at 1.5 from the base of the rectangle at the spot where is located the crown of your head since this area is the closed towards the bed.

____ inches + ___ inches = ____ inches.
 * In the other extreme, upper part or initial position of the rectangle (area for the top of your head) this segment will have 3 inches, add a dot if you wish, it is not necessary since is the top of the rectangle.

Remember to add the 3 inches of freedom to each segment.

This rectangle is 35 inches long and 3 inches tall, both extremes will be 3 inches, and now we will connect the marked dots with curves or lines, connect them freely, it does not need to be perfect.

Finally cut the rectangle following the marked line, repeat this or make this steps at the same time in the other 35x3 inches rectangle.

This long rectangle will connect the upper part of the pillow with the lower part of the pillow, and it's function is are the follow:

The areas of the body that are closed to the bed will correspond to the areas of the rectangle 1.5 inches tall, this will reduce the area for infill and forcing the infill to go to the other areas reducing pressure from the head and giving space to the body in these areas: Crown of the head, area from the shoulders to the ribs and buttocks, while at the same time will align or level all parts of the body. This reduce material and pressure in the center of the crown of the head, and upper back area.

The areas of the body that are far from the bed will correspond to the areas of the rectangle 3 inches tall, this will increase the area for infill, allowing the expansion of this areas and giving cushion this areas: Lower extreme, upper extreme, neck and area between buttocks and ribs, while at the same time will align or level all parts of the body. This will increase material and cushion approaching and when reaching space of necks curvature, and lower back curvature.

In most of pillows to top and bottom sides are sewed together, that does not allow and easy distribution of the infill and just keep pushing the infill towards the center of the pillow, towards the head, neck and back, in an awkward way giving pressure and material where is not needed.

A third long rectangle can be added for the lower part, this will be the long of your shoulders, in this example 24 inches x 3 inches, we can cut a 30x3 segment in order to not be short of material during the sewing of the segment.

Do not worry of mistakes, even the cut or shapes are not perfect, the 3 inches will allow or compensate the mistakes of the design.

Drawing the lines
Once we have our measures calculated and written, we are going to use pencil, measuring tape and an wide table, surface or even the floor could be used.

In some cases the fabric could be damaged for around one inch, cut that area in order to not use a damaged section.

Place the fabric to be cut (if feathers are used, ticking fabric) on a flat surface and proceed to draw the lines for cutting or sewing.

Drawing the lines for the top and bottom of the pillow
Measure the wide to be used (30 inches), mark a dot at that point. Then measure the length (50 inches) close to the border of the fabric and mark a dot. Measure the wide again at that height and mark a dot. Measure 2 more times the length in 2 other sections of the area, and 2 more times the wide. Draw a line that will represent one side of the pillow or square.

Repeat this step in the opposite side of the pillow.

Drawing the lines for the sides of the pillow
Since the fabric wide is 44 inches, and the pillow wide is 30 inches, we will have around 14 inches that can be use to cut the sides of the pillows, these will connect the top and the bottom of the pillow and will allow the reduction of the pressure when people uses the pillows.

Mark a dot at the height of 3 inches, and a dot at the length of 60 inches. Mark 2 more 3 inches dots in between the initial part and 60 inches, and draw a rectangle (60x3 inches).

Repeat this step to make the second rectangle or side.

Now draw points in the sections were we want more material or pressure (top of the neck) and points in the areas were we want less material or pressure (crown):

The dots used as reference (with the 3 extra inches) are


 * 0 for the area bellow the buttocks,
 * 12 for the upper end of the buttocks
 * 23 inches from the lower back to the start of the ribs
 * 35 inches for the bottom of the neck, or your shoulders or upper back.
 * 47 for the start of you neck or your chin
 * 61 for the top of the head.

We are going to mark the previous dots in the 60x3 sections at the height of 3 inches.

If we want to eliminate cushion in the lungs area to allow their normal function, we could just use the area from the top of the head to the start of you upper back, and not make a pillow from the buttocks to the middle or lower back area. This will also allow a smaller pillow and the use of material.

Now we will add a dot at the height of 1 and 1/2 inches (1.5 inches) in the sections where we want to have less material or pressure:


 * Middle of the head or crown: At 54 inches height, mark this point as 1/2 inch.
 * Middle of the back: 29 inches height, mark this point as 1/2 inch.
 * Middle of buttocks: 6 inches: Mark this point as 1/2 inch.

Now draw a curve that connects the rest of the dots with these 3 dots, and where is the head position and where the lower position.

Repeat this steps with the other rectangle. And draw curves to connect these dogs, this lines are not drawn to be cut, are drawn to be sewed.

Cutting the upper and lower fabrics for the pillow
Cut 2 rectangular pieces for the pillow, this will be the upper and lower area of the pillow, it will be a square that covers your whole upper part: 35x24 inches. In your case: ___ inches x ___ inches

Warning: Pillows that use feather filling must contain the pillow with Pillow Ticking (also made with cotton), since they prevent the feathers to pass though cotton fabric and release allergens and feathers though its use since the first day of use with the possible cause of pneumonia in extreme cases. If feathers are used, these material measuring and cutting will be for the pillow thicken and after that an additional cotton layer can be added if desired.

Cutting sides of the pillow
Cut both 60x3 inches rectangles.

Sewing the pillow
Sew both of the 3 inches long segments together from the upper section area (head side), allowing around 1 inches of intersection and cut that excess.

Remember to use the reverse sewing at the beginning and end of the segments to tangle the threads.

Sew one of the long segments starting with the upper part of one of the pillows sides, and use this long 3 inches wide piece as your guide until you reach its end.

Repeat this with the other long segment in the same pillow side. Now yo will have the both 3 inches long sides attached to one of the pillows, and will repeat the same with the other side of the pillow/

Start sewing the center of the side with the pillow (the one not sewed yet) from the upper part of the head area towards the end of one side of the intermediate of the pillow... then go to its center again and sew towards the other end.

Do a second sewing in the sew areas, to assure that the pillow is sealed properly, then cut the excess material of border of the pillow out of the sewed area or unnecessary fabric, but leaving some, around half inch of from the thread to prevent cutting the tread.

Flip the pillow, this will move the area of the pillow where we can see the thread and excess of fabric not cut with the scissors towards the inside of the pillow.

Filling the pillow
Place the cover of the pillow in a receptacle bigger than the pillow, outside the working room, this will will allow to have a more organized work area and preventing dispersing the infill in the room.

Fill the pillow with its infill (goose feathers), push the infill to bottom of the pillow, you can press the infill towards the bottom of the pillow, this will facilitate the sewing of the last part of the pillow, add more infill if necessary.

It does not matter that the pillow is not completely full, this will reduce pressure and allow the distribution of infill and change the shape according your weight, even half of the pillow with infill will be enough, it will also allow us to change the pillow shape to our preference.

Final steps
Sew the third long rectangle to seal the pillow. Other option is to not use a third rectangle and just sew both lower sides of the pillow.

Cut excess material.