I home-school my kids from Kindergarten to Grade 3. So, I like to have educational things around, but I don’t want my house to look like a classroom (unless it’s the actual “school room” like we had in one house). But most of our learning seems to happen right on the couch so the old teacher can be comfortable!!! So, a Map of Canada Pillow seems like the perfect addition to our home school – comfort and education in one!!!
Somewhere in blogworld, I’ve seen two maps of the USA. They were both wall hangings – one was fabric and one was paper. (Sorry, this was before Pinterest so they were only “pinned” in my mind and I have no link to send you to!). But they were my inspiration to make a map of Canada. Let me just say that 10 provinces and 3 territories is just a wee bit easier than 50 states!!!The first step is to find a map you like. I found a ton on Google and any regular person could just print a map out. I’m not a regular person and decided to make this project take a little longer by tracing a map off my daughters school agenda.
(Actually, I don’t have a printer right now!)Now, listen carefully: I used Heat and Bond (my second favourite thing after Mod Podge!), and the image you trace on the Heat and Bond needs to be backwards. So, I traced my map with a marker that went through the paper, so I had the reverse image on the back of the paper. And then I copied it, but you don’t need to do that.
You trace your reversed image onto the paper side of the Heat and Bond and then roughly cut it out.
I initialed the provinces because when they’re backwards its easy to get mixed up. These are all pressed now onto the wrong side of the fabric (follow the instructions on your Heat and Bond!)
Now you cut them out properly.
Place them in their proper spots. I kept the little Prince Edward Island to the last because I didn’t want to lose it. I’d love to visit PEI someday (yes, I’m a big Anne fan!)
Once everything was placed in its proper spot, I peeled the paper backing off the fabric and put the piece back in its place.
I double checked the exact locations of those east coast provinces with my map. Gotta teach my kids correct geography! When everything was exactly right, I ironed it all on – again, be sure to follow the instructions on your package. It’s probably only for a few seconds and if you over iron, it won’t stick.My family likes to throw around pillows – crazy I know and they most certainly don’t get that from me! So I knew that I had to do some reinforcements to my pillow before it goes flying around the room.
I slowly stitched around a lot of the edges – not every edge, that would have driven me insane!!!
Each piece has enough stitching on it to securely hold it in place. I even changed to blue thread to stitch around the Great Lakes!Hey, that could be a new puzzle: where did mom start sewing with the green thread, and how did she do it in one continuous line?
I sewed my blue piece to a green piece and sewed all that onto . . . a drop cloth!!! Drop clothes are pretty amazing and can be used for a ton of things – like curtains and chair covers, or, even to throw on the ground to protect your floor while you paint!!! Sorry, got distracted by drop clothes. Back to the pillow – I clipped the green and blue edges and sprayed them with water to rough them up – a rag look.
Looking good, but still a little wet! The edges did curl up nicely.Here’s another distraction – a cute distraction, but still a distraction!!!
She has to be right in on all the action . . .
. . . and have the best view of everything!!!Yeah, nap time is definitely craft time. And now I’m often crafting on my bed because she can’t climb up there yet!
The clipped and frayed edges.
To sew the pillow cover, I just did an envelope style. I even used the finished edges of the drop cloth so I wouldn’t need to finish any edges. So easy!
And there is the finished back view!
And the finished front!!!And yes, we’ve already had a geography lesson and I sewed everything in the proper place!!!
