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Today’s project was inspired by this pin from Brassy Apple.
I also checked out this tutorial from Jones Design Company and this tutorial from Centsational Girl. And you can do a search on Pinterest for even more ideas!
I browsed my local Value Village one afternoon looking for a suitable sweater. I actually found a few, but my favorite (and the cheapest since it was half price and would only cost $1.75) was the bottom one with the cable knit design.
And yes, I got a few strange looks as I had all of these sweaters folded like this on the floor taking a picture with my cell phone. But it really helped to fold the sleeves under and visualize what they would look like.
So here is my sweater all washed and clean.
I folded it over to see what size pillow form I needed to use and where I needed to cut it. I was able to use a 18 inch pillow form.
I cut off the sleeves…
and then cut off the top and bottom. You could totally leave that bottom band on the bottom, I just didn’t need it – it would have made my pillow case too big.
I flipped it inside out and sewed up all the seams, leaving a small opening on the bottom to stuff the pillow in. I started out using a zig-zag stitch as one of the tutorials suggested, but it was very hard to feed it through the machine. This sweater was rather thick and chunky so that could totally depend on your sweater. I switched to the smallest straight stitch and that worked much better.
Here is it all sewn up and flipped right side back out again.
I stuffed the pillow form in and straightened up all the corners and sides. When I make another pillow I will round the corners more instead of doing them completely square. But I was able to work the sweater around and get the corners to look right.
I sewed up that portion by hand and it was all finished! Honestly if you don’t have a sewing machine, you could very easily hand sew this pillow – the chunkiness of the material made it easy to hide the stitches and your seam definitely doesn’t have to be perfect.
Love this pillow! It is PERFECT for fall and winter! I will definitely be keeping my eye open for free and cheap sweaters. I would like to find a plainer one and embellish it with rosettes or a button pulled in at the middle or something like the other ideas I found on Pinterest. You can find lots of pillow ideas on my Pillow board.
So if you have an ugly sweater you don’t wear anymore or can’t fit anymore, why not upcycle it instead of donating it and enjoy it made into a pillow for your house? Or keep your eyes open at thrift stores and yard sales for a cheap one to use.
Oh and the other pillows you see, I made those too. Check out this tutorial on how to make an easy envelope pillow cover.
Oh, and I have plans for the leftover pieces too. You’ll have to wait and see…
I am joining Nester from Nesting Place in writing a 31 days series in October. You can see all the other hundreds of people writing a 31 days series here.
And I am excited to have 3 blogging friends join me in the insanity! Check out their series by clicking on the buttons below.
And my sister-in-law is joining along too! Writing about their transition as they move across the country with four children.
Christina
Jessica B says
Love this one. I was wondering if it was easy to do or not. Looks like it came together pretty quick.
Heather@ThriftyStories says
I love this one, Christina. Very Pottery Barn style. It sounds and looks really simple to make. Perhaps I could carve out some time to do it. 🙂
Thanks for sharing.
Debbie says
It looks great and sounds very easy! I have pinned this one, I would love to try this with an old sweater. Thanks for sharing
Debbie 🙂
Jennifer says
I love your sweater pillows!!! I made a few too, but I really love yours!!!
Jenn
Melissa says
Such a great idea!! Where is the best place to get the pillow forms from? Yours looks so nice!
Christina says
Hey Melissa! I actually just bought 2 Pottery Barn down pillow forms for $.50 each at Value Village! So definitely check yard sales and Goodwill. Makes sure they are pillow forms not jsut stuffed with stuffing. If you have to buy them new – I would use a coupon at Joann’s or Hobby Lobby but they are not cheap – $5+. I can get them at my discount fabric store for $4
Wendy J says
Love the sweater pillow.
Anna says
I just finished reading your tutorial because I wanted to make a sweater pillow out of my almost new/rarely worn sweater from Lands End Canvas and imagine my surprise when I looked through your tutorial. I think you had the same one! LOL. Now, I ‘m definitely making that pillow and I KNOW how it will look. Thanks so much!