Thursday, April 5, 2012

DIY Soft ,Comfy Pillow from a Sweater!








We have a second living area on the second floor of our home.  In almost every other home we've had basements, but I guess that is not what they do in Texas.  Hardly any homes have basements around here.  Anyways, we have began formulating in our mind a plan for that upstairs living area.  We decided on some of the colors, of which Navy Blue is one of them.  So when I came across these sweaters on sale at Walmart for $3, I knew exactly what I was going to do with them.



First let me mention that I purchased the largest size I could find---I wanted as much fabric as possible.

Then, I cut of the bottom of the sweater, right underneath the armpits.





Sorry some of these pictures are blurry, I was focused on sewing and getting these done, and didn't take the time to make sure they were in focus.

Here is the part we are going to use.




Next, I cut right up each of the sides so as to make two individual pieces.



Then I took the ribbed edge from one piece and laid it on top of the non-ribbed edge of the second piece.  Right sides together, and pinned it securely.




Because of one edge being ribbed and the other non-ribbed, you may have some bunching.  The best thing to do is to stretch out the ribbed edge to the length of the non-ribbed edge.





Sew the two pieces together with the ribbed edge up.  The sewing machine will pull the bottom piece of fabric more taught for you.




Do the same thing on the other side.  Ribbed edge with non-ribbed edge. Always right sides together.
Here is what it should look like with both seems.




When you've finished, take the "sleeve" and match up the two ribbed pieces so that they are lined up equally.  Fold it with these lined up.




Then pin that edge together and sew it across the length, sewing it closed.





On the other end, you are going to make sure the ribbed edges are still lined up, and sew it only partly closed, so that you have a spot to turn it inside out, and stuff it.  The place where I am not going to sew is the area where the pin is turned horizontally.  I want to machine stitch up to that first pin, leave a space, then machine stitch again from the second pin to the end.  It is always best to not leave your stuffing hole right at the end of the fabric.





Here you can see I have sewn to the first pin.  I will pick up the foot and move it to the second pin, and sew to the end.





Turn the pillow inside out, and stuff it.



Pin the hole and stitch it closed.
Easy peasy!



There you have it.  Your own soft and comfy sweater pillows!



Now, what to do with the other parts of the sweater we didn't use? Hmmm?!