I’m visiting my parents in the UK this week, and I decided to make a quick travel pillow for the flights. I’d looked into buying a travel pillow, but they all seemed far too bulky. All I want is something to support my head as I attempt to sleep on the plane. Here’s what I came up with:

It’s not just cute (hello, kitty!) but it also has a special feature that I came up with myself. Although I may not be the only person to think of this idea, I haven’t seen a pillow like it before, so I should explain how it works.

When you rest your head on it, the pillow creases in the middle to cup your head gently:

And you can also fold it in half to make a wedge shape. Rest the fold on your shoulder against your neck, and you can sleep with your head resting on your shoulder while your neck remains at a fairly comfortable angle:

Here’s how the magic works: the pillow has two compartments, separated by a simple seam down the middle:

(I stitched the central seam first, then stuffed each compartment separately.)

The seam forms a natural fold line in the pillow, without compressing the stuffing when you fold it:

It’s very compact, which makes it easy to pack. Flat, it measures 9 x 6.5″ (23 x 16cm):

And folded in half, it’s only 6.5 x 4.5″ (16 x 11cm):

This pillow is 100% recycled: the washable, removable cover fabric comes from a pair of Hello Kitty lounge pants that developed a hole, the pillow inner is fabric from an old cushion, and the stuffing is leftover from another pillow that was too thick for me, so I removed some of the stuffing. Total cost: $0 (the best price…)

In practice, the incredibly uncomfortable seat on my plane meant I had to use it, flat, as lumbar support behind my back for the majority of the flight – I should have made two of them! But now I know it works as a behind-head pillow, a neck support pillow and a lumbar support pillow, so it’s even more useful. 🙂