Mer-Mer has made pillows with hearts on them, trees, elephants and puppies, swords and a triforce, a treasure map; pillows that glow in the dark; pillows made from t-shirts, dress shirts and denim; pillows to stir an emotion or one’s imagination; pillows to cuddle with, nap with, and soothe an aching heart. Now she’s made a pillow to carry rings down the aisle.
When Mer-Mer started finding out about the wedding plans of her soon-to-be-married friend Susannah, she asked what you might expect from a sewer with such a pillow-making history: “Susannah, can I make your ring pillow?!” To which Susannah replied simply, “Okay.”
From there the two went to JoAnn’s to pick out an assortment of fabric for the patchwork top of the pillow. Mer-Mer also pulled from fabrics she had collected over the summer.
Sewing the patchwork of fabrics together was fairly easy, although Mer-Mer had to add backing to some of the sheer fabrics to prevent the back of the pillow from showing through them. To keep all the different fabrics firmly pressed, Mer-Mer borrowed irons from freshmen in her old dorm.
Looking at the picture above, you probably notice two ceramic buttons that stand out against the rich white patchwork. They will hold the place of the bride and groom’s rings. Susannah picked the green button because green is her favorite color. Mer-Mer made another trip to JoAnn’s to find the matching red button, honoring the groom’s — Shengming’s — favorite color.
Two ribbons, which will be used to fasten the rings, fill the space directly above the buttons. Before Mer-Mer sewed the ribbons to the pillow, she painted the cut ends with nail polish to prevent them from fraying.
To further garnish the pillow, Susannah gave Mer-Mer some special fabric, which Mer-Mer turned into a heart, and two prettified flowers. Mer-Mer also added some additional flowers from JoAnn’s, the tiny white ones. She attached these with very small stitches.
Put it all together, and you get a pillow that’s sure to light up the isle.
Susannah sent pictures of the completed pillow to Shengming. Here’s a transcript of the conversation that followed:
Shengming: “That’s a very pretty pillow. What’s it for?”
Susannah: “Well, at an American wedding, you need a way to get the rings down the aisle, so they put them on a pillow which is usually carried by a little boy.”
Shengming: “Since Mer-Mer made the pillow, she should carry it down!”
Susannah: “Umm…little boy?”
Shengming: “Oh, we can make an exception.”
Sewing With Mer-Mer 
hehehehe Mer-Mer dress up like a little boy and walk down the asile
As a side note: The fabric for the heart and the green flowers were originally part of my wedding dress before my other sewing friend, Julie, fixed it up for me. To make the dress fit me by lengthening it, some of the pattern from the top w…as cut off (flowers). Furthermore, there was originally a big bow on the back of my dress that I didn’t want. Some of the fabric from that bow was converted into some of the middle of my dress and some of it is the heart that is on this pillow.
I will not dress up as a little boy. I can just be a very pretty ring bearer…with long hair…in a dress…
Just fyi, I steal Garritt’s identity on here too. So it’s not just facebook!
Thank you for clarifying that, Mer-Mer. I definitely don’t want to walk down the aisle in a dress with long hair looking pretty.