One Family Finished

I just finished the first set of pillows and covers for the Christmas presents I am making for everyone for Christmas. I will be making a pillow that can be used as is, or it can be put into the knitted initial pillow cover. I am making each family set at a time.  So, one family down and three more to go, plus one for Tony.  Here are the results of the first family.

Front knitted cover for TW, Ellen, Ellis, and Portia.

Back of knitted cover for TW, Ellen, Ellis, and Portia.

Pillow front for TW, Ellen, Ellis, and Portia.

Back of pillow for TW, Ellen, Ellis, and Portia.

You can see that the pillow sizes are different.  There is a reason for this.  I started with Portia's pillow cover and decided that it would be too big to do for everyone.  I decided to downsize and I came up with the smallest size.  I was going to make all the rest of the pillows that size, but I found two pre-stuffed pillows downstairs in my supplies.   They were 16" pillows, and the smaller size was 14".  I decided to make TW's pillow as one of the 16" pillows.  I purchased fourteen of the 14" pre-stuffed pillows so it would be easier to cover them with the material that I had chosen for each person.  It would have taken so much stuffing to stuff all of them.  As it is, I had to stuff Portia's because I couldn't find an 18" pre-stuffed pillow and that is how big hers turned out being. The rest of the pillows should be the 14" size, except for three more.  I had to buy two more of the 16" and I still have one more that I already had.

Just a little on each of the pillows.  TW's cover has garter stitch borders and middle band in the back.  The rest is done in stockinette stitch.  Ellen's has chain link cable stitch for the side borders in the front and seed stitch for top and bottom borders. The center is in stockinette stitch.  The back has seed stitch borders and middle band, with the chain link cable stitch for the rest. Ellis' has basket weave for the borders and middle band.  The rest is done in stockinette stitch.  Portia's, which is as the pattern called for, has seed stitch for the borders and band and stockinette stitch for the rest.  I want to try to make each pillow cover be a little different, but with twenty to make, I may not be able to do it. The basic pattern will be the same, but with a variety of stitches, I should be able to make each pillow a little unique.  I will have to see how it goes.