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

Dreamo: The pillow of your dreams.

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.

Materials needed:

A piece of fabric: 1 yard or 2 yards is enough.

Infill: Kapok filling: low price and natural

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

Scissor and thread.

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

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.

Equipment:

A sewing machine, or needle and thread.

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.

Introduction edit

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 edit

I noticed the following design mistakes the pillows:

Currently most of pillows use a horizontal-rectangular shape, and the worst part, are designed in mass 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.

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 resulting in order to maintain its shape, this result in a bulky center of the pillow that pushes against 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.

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

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, reduction of workers and ignoring the user anatomy rather than focus in the user comfort. Current pillow design uses less external fabric material than bigger pillows that covers users body areas, giving the illusion of being big, but at the same time being used mostly only by the users head and part of the neck. Using less material and less parts (One less part in the cases of the pillows that not use a central line to allow pillow expansion) and less thread to hold the parts.

Disadvantages of using mass produced pillows edit

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.

Dreamo: The pillow of your dreams. edit

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.

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 edit

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 edit

Pillow external fabric: Recommended 100 % cotton organic without bleach, but any option could be used. Benefits: Is breathable. I went to a fabrics, arts and crafts store and bought a few yards... this was bleached, but next time I will buy it not bleached.

Insert: Goose feather. They are very soft, provide a great cushion and can easily move in any direction inside the pillow at any time. For this I bought a cushion on sale (75 % off) made by a known designer brand for this purpose, I decided to keep it as it is for few months, but rarely used it due it's square, bulky and hard design... finally I decided to make the dreamo design as originally was intended.

Another benefit of using organics materials that were produced without carcinogen materials will eliminate the risk of develop cancer due toxic substances, keeping you and your family free of congenital diseases.

The size for the materials is at least the length of the pillow, in this case 60 inches long will be enough for one side, but we need at least 2 sides to make a pillow, so we will have to bay in this case 2 yards of material, or 3 will be better in order to not be short of materials during the middle of the sewing process. In fabrics stores fabrics are measured in yards, each yard has 3 feet or 60 inches, so if we buy 3 yards, that will be 9 feet or 108 inches long. The wide of the material is stated are measured in inches and are shown on the ide of the materials were are packed or placed, in this case we need a pillow at least 30 inches long. If the material has 44 inches wide that is more than enough for our project.

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. I bought 3 yards so it can last me for for both sides of the pillow and have material also for the pillow sides.

Design edit

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 edit

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 edit

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 edit

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 the end of your shoulders: In my case __ inches. In your case: ___ inches.

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

Adding 3 inches to each of the previous measures edit

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 edit

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:

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.