Monday, January 6, 2014

Simple Sewing

Easy Upcycled T-shirt Pillows
(a super project for young sewists)
Do you have a pile of oh-so-adorable t-shirts from when you/your kids/your grandkids were small? (Before they had opinions about what they would or would not wear - when we could pick them up cute mementos or dress them in 'future lawyer' or 'grandmas rock') Being in a house of boys and dogs I am not willing to buy nice pillows for decoration on beds and sofas.  Not willing to toss some of the cute tees in boxes, I did a bit of crafting and ended up with upcycled cute pillows for nothing!

  • Carefully cut the ribbed neck, sleeve and bottom bands off
  • turn the t-shirt inside out
  • sew or serge the open edges of the one sleeve, the bottom and neck.  I left one sleeve open for turning and stuffing.( you could also leave a 3 inches opening for turning along the bottom if you prefer stitching both sleeves
  • Turn right side out
  • Top stitch the sewn sleeve and neck  
  • Stuff the t-shirt to your liking with your favorite stuffing, such as Polyfil or even scraps
  • Turn a seem inside the open sleeve and top stitch closed  
  • Enjoy your pillow - Steve enjoys his


Above is the reason for no nice throw pillows.  Now if someone could only post a tutorial on easy and permanent fur repellant on upholstery everything would be perfect!!