Memorial Pillow With Picture

A memorial pillow here is a photograph printed onto fabric and sewn into a cushion. That is the whole thing. It sits in the room rather than in a box, and it can be held, which is the part people say matters.

If you were looking for a pillow made from their clothes

That is a different craft and we do not do it. Memory pillows sewn from a shirt or a dressing gown are made by seamstresses who work with the actual garment, and if that is what you want, look for one of them instead.

We print. Send a photograph and you get the photograph, at a size you can see from an armchair.

Who orders these

Roughly half are people ordering for themselves, usually months rather than days after a death. The other half are sympathy gifts, bought by a friend or a sibling who wants to send something that is not flowers.

Both are ordinary here and neither needs explaining. If the loss was an animal rather than a person, that has its own page.

This is usually the hardest part of the order, and not for technical reasons.

People often reach for the most recent photograph because it feels like the truest one. Just as often they end up choosing one from twenty years earlier, of somebody laughing in a garden, because that is the version they want in the room. Neither choice is wrong.

The technical part

• Send the original file, not a screenshot and not something forwarded through a messaging app
• For an old print, photograph it flat in daylight with the phone held directly above it
• Reflections and shadows on a print cause more problems than the age of the photograph does
• A scan from a home printer is better than a phone photo if you have access to one

Group photographs

If they are in a group shot and you want only them, say so. We can crop to one person, though the result depends on how much of the frame they occupied to begin with. The preview will show you before anything is charged.

If the only photograph you have is damaged or very small, tell us when you order. We will say honestly what can be done rather than printing it and hoping.

Sympathy gifts are difficult because the usual options all expire. Flowers die within a fortnight, food gets eaten during the week when nobody is hungry, and a card goes in a drawer.

Something printed lasts past the point where everybody else has gone back to their own lives, which is usually when it is needed.

Getting the photograph without asking

The practical obstacle. Images saved from social media are compressed and often will not enlarge well. Ask another family member for an original if you can. If you have to ask the person directly, the right photograph is usually worth more than the surprise.

Timing

There is no rule, but something arriving a month or two after a funeral often lands better than something arriving during the week of it, when the house is already full of flowers and people.

Say it is a memorial when you order

Put it in the notes. Memorial orders are handled personally rather than moving through the usual queue, it costs nothing extra, and it means the cheerful automated emails do not arrive at a bad moment.

You can also have it posted straight to them by putting their address in at checkout.

Square

Most memorial orders for a person choose a square cushion. It sits on a sofa without inviting comment, which matters if you do not want to explain it to every visitor. It is also the only shape that holds a collage properly.

Cut to the outline

Cut around the head and shoulders, or around the whole figure. Much more present in a room. Some people want exactly that, and some find it too much, which is worth thinking about before ordering rather than after.

Size

The middle size is what most people settle on, because it can be held and still shows a face clearly. The largest is a statement in a room. The smallest travels, which some people want for exactly that reason.

Both sides print

At no extra cost. Two photographs from different decades is common. So is a photograph on one side and a plain colour on the other, so it can be turned over on a difficult day.

• Three days to make, counted from when you approve the preview
• Tracked shipping after that, normally four to eight business days
• From $25, with no minimum order
• Machine washable, cold water on a gentle cycle, and do not iron the printed face

One each for the family

Common after a grandparent dies. There is no bulk tier, so four cost four times one, each gets its own preview, and each can go to a different address. Different siblings often want different photographs, and that is straightforward.

If it arrives wrong

We reprint it. On this kind of order that guarantee matters more than on any other, which is why the preview stage is never rushed.

• Pet memorial pillows, for an animal rather than a person
• Custom photo pillows, including how a nine photo collage is laid out
• Custom grandparents gifts, if one grandparent is still here
• Custom family gifts, for fitting several people onto one layout