Handmade items looking suspicious?
 

I would like to make a small memory foam lumbar support pillow for a long haul flight, but my boyfriend thinks that it will look like I'm smuggling drugs and that we will be caught up in security. I guess it might look a bit messy on an X-ray, and the foam inside is small bits of foam, but would that look weird and cause a problem?

I previously repaired a broken suitcase with lots of masking tape, and my boyfriend told me to buy a new one for the same reason, looking dodgy...

Thanks to anyone who has any insight!!

Which airports / countries are you passing through?

Hi, I am flying UK to seattle direct return.

More seriously I mean this in the best possible way
 

If you are traveling abroad, why ask for trouble? I actually don't think the pillow would be much of a problem, as people have all kinds of weird things to help their comfort on the airplane, but you repair a broken suitcase with masking tape for an international trip seems like penny wise and pound foolish. What if it breaks on the trip – you have to buy a new one anyway?

That said, I've seen a lot of memory foam pillows like you just described. I think if you got the chunks of memory foam and so did up with a nice bag, I don't think anyone would pay attention to it.

Ha! Yes the broken suitcase was replaced before my last transatlantic flight! Don't worry! I'd been flying with it within Europe without realising the plastic inner lining had shattered. What I tried to do was just patch that up. The outer shell of the case was still sound :).

Thanks for your reply though, my sewing work isn't amazing but I think the pillow will do the job.

An x ray image doesn't just depend on shape, but also material density. Unless your foam is made up of actual drugs I wouldn't worry.

And if they do get suspicious all they have to do is squeeze it. I can't think of any drug that feels like memory foam.

I don't think memory foam would get you very high. Thanks for the reassurance.