Remember that Disney shirt from yesterday that I didn’t end up using on the Pillow Blanket? Well I was so into the idea of making it become a pillow that I did just that! Last year I had made my husband a pillow using one of his old shirts that he loved but it was getting too worn for wearing. I had an old foam bed pillow that I was going to throw out and instead, I cut it in half and made him a pillow! That other half has been laying around in my craft space for an entire year. It was time to give it some love!
Project Time: 30 minutes
For your pillow you’ll need an old t-shirt and a bed pillow. You can even use a cotton bed pillow if you like. If you saw my Camper Monday post from this week you learned that I made two small decorative pillows by cutting up an IKEA bed pillow. Granted that pillow was bought new and was about $3, if you have an old bed pillow laying around and it’s not gross, I’d use that! If not you can use poly fil or go out and get a new inexpensive squishy bed pillow.
If using a bed pillow, lay your shirt on the bed pillow to see where cutting will need to take place. I was going to use up most of the length of my shirt which was a size M so I just needed to cut off the sleeves and the neck.
Turn your tshirt wrong side out and cut off the sleeves and below the collar. Then you can pin those parts and sew, or be like me and just match it up at the sewing machine! Make sure to leave the bottom of your shirt un sewn, or sew only a few inches on each side so you have a place to turn your pillow right side out and stuff the pillow in! I did chose to sew a few inches in on each side of mine so I’d have less sewing by hand to do later.
After your done sewing, turn your pillow right side out and stuff your pillow in there! Since mine had such a strange drop off I decided to fill the rest of the pillow with poly fil to give it more of a pillow shape!
From here I just tucked in my opening and whip stitched it closed! I don’t anticipate needing to take this pillow apart for washing or anything but if something were to happen it wouldn’t be too hard to remove the whipped stitch and remove the t-shirt to wash it. The pillow can probably also withstand being thrown in the wash as is.
Pretty easy peasy sewing project! This project is a favorite of mine to gift to family members in my house – again, old loved tshirts get to have a second life as a pillow! But you might have some loved shirts of bands that your friends also like and you decide to upcycle those shirts as pillows to them this year! The possibilities are endless! Have fun crafting my friends! Be sure to share your creations with me on socials! You can find me by clicking the links on the website, or searching “creativeunicorncrafts”
See you tomorrow for another fun handmade holiday craft!
xoxo
-Robin
