Tutorial / T-shirt Pillow (just because I found an old t-shirt)

I have been going through my house on and off for the last several months. To get rid of things I usually have a system... There are three piles, such as "Donate", "Sell", "Throw away". Any other place in the house is not hard to do this except in Mr. TRH and my closet.

I have a weakness for fabrics, and there is no exception when I am trying to get rid of some clothes. Even though an item hasn't been worn for such a long time, I start to think "uh, I can use this to make this" or "ah, I bet if I do this and this I can still wear it".

So, this is one of those projects that I just had to try and see. :)

I found this old t-shirt on Mr.TRH’s side of closet. It was in good condition, but he hadn’t worn it AT ALL for several years.



1. First cut it apart.


2. Cut 2 -- 15" X 22" rectangles for the pillow, and many 1" wide strips. If the t-shirt you have is smaller, you can cut smaller rectangles to make a smaller pillow.


3. On one of the rectangles, you can start "drawing". When you stretch the strips, they will curl up; I think this gives an interesting effect to the pillow. I didn't have any plans whatsoever, but I just eye balled the middle, and pinned the first strip and started to sew.



Keep drawing with strips...



4. After I did lots of "drawing" with strips, I made some ruffle strips to fill in some spaces. To make ruffles, sew in the middle of the strips with large stitches and pull one of the threads. Gather the fabric to make ruffles.




5. Put the front and back fabrics right sides together. Pin them and sew all around it with 1/4" seam. Make sure to leave 3" - 4" opening for turning.


7. Snip the corners for a neat finish.


8. Turn, press the edges with an iron. Stuff, slip stitch closed...and ta-da!


When the kids came home from school, Rachel noticed the pillow right away; the boys couldn’t care less about such minor details in life. I thought it was so funny to see the difference. Although, the pillow is loved by everyone, it is so soft and cuddly and perfect for a pillow fight. :)