"Papaw Pillows"

by Lois Breneman - 2016

It is always so difficult to lose a loved one.  
 

In December, a year ago, my sister, Nancy, lost her dear
husband, Ed, just two weeks shy of their fiftieth wedding 
anniversary.  Months later I sent her a photo of a great idea 
I had seen to transform shirts into pillows.  While we were 
visiting her, she asked if I would make pillows like that, 
using some of Ed's shirts to give to their grandchildren.  
I was happy to do that for her, and took a box of his shirts 
along home with us.

I made the shirt-pillows so a 14-inch pillow form would fit 
into each one.  Some of the shirts needed to be lined with a
solid cotton fabric for added thickness.  If the shirt had 
buttons down the front, the buttoned front was used as the 
opening to turn the pillow right-side-out after sewing the 
other three sides.  If there were no buttons, I sewed in a 
zipper.  

These buttoned shirts were now ready for a pillow form.

The other four shirts were sewn with a zipper closure, so 
a 14-inch pillow form could be added by my sister after 
she received them in the mail.

 

In making the tags Nancy used a special photo of each 
grandchild with Papaw.  She laminated the tags and 
punched a hole so she could attach the tag with twine to 
the zipper tab or button on each pillow.  

I thought these tags were such a special loving touch! 







The grandchildren were so happy upon receiving such a 
special and meaningful gift from their dear Memaw - a 
gift they will always cherish as they remember the many 
wonderful times they had with their beloved Papaw who 
loved the Lord with all his heart and lived a godly life 
before them.






Another photo of the youngest grandchild, Samara...





                                                   ...and Timothy!  



One year after their Papaw's graduation to heaven, they 
were all so happy be able to still hug him (in a way) with 
their "Papaw Pillows!"