Pillow From a Shirt

 Hello Readers. Fall is here and that means I want some fall decor around the house. Sometimes clothing actually makes great decor. I think this shirt would make a great fall pillow for a chair. Let me show you what I mean.

Before and after.

This denim shirt was so well made but I didn't like it as a shirt. The leaves and vines felt very overwhelming. There were just too many, it was too busy. They were all over me.

I cut 2 squares from the body of the shirt. One from the front and one from the back. The buttons on the front of the shirt are going to be the opening to put a pillow in this cover. My squares are approximately 12 inches by 12 inches. You may need to adjust the size of your squares depending on the size of your shirt and what you are going to use to stuff your shirt pillow with. (More about that in a minute.)

I put the 2 pieces together with the right sides facing each other and sewed around all 4 sides of the squares. I closed up all around the square. Usually you leave an opening in one side to stuff the pillow but I am not going to need that because of the buttons on the front of the shirt.

I undid a few buttons and used the opening to turn the whole pillow cover right side out. 

This is what it looked like when it was done. It just needs to be stuffed. And I can do that because it has buttons down the front of the shirt.

I went out on my front porch and took this outdoor pillow from summer to stuff my pillow. You can use a pillow you have or buy a pillow form. My porch is covered so I don't have to worry about rain on my pillow but use a pillow form or stuffing that is right for your location. There are indoor and outdoor pillow forms. 

I stuffed my pillow cover with the pillow. 

I buttoned up the buttons and put the pillow on my chair. It adds a little touch of fall and makes the chair more comfortable. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

Making the Garden Pretty in Day & Night

 Hello Readers. Fall is here and the trees will turn colors soon and look glorious but my flower garden looks dry, dead and depressing. I wanted to have something pretty to look at it the garden but what can survive the fall weather? What could look good like day and night? It might sound unusual but what about a vintage bike? Don't close out the tab! Let me show you what I mean.

 Day and night.

The current state of my flower garden is not good. There used to be tulips and daffodils, peonies and day lilies, a cherry tree and a butterfly bush. But now everything has gone dormant and it looks dead and empty.

This sad tired peony has seen better days. It won't look better until spring when it comes back and blooms.

The garden will never look pretty with all these dead looking plants.

 

I cut the stems down to ground level with some pruning shears.The cuttings can be composted over the winter. (My son's soccer goal was in my flower garden for some reason. I put that away too.)

 

  I used the kiddie pool to hold all the cuttings. It was easy to throw them all in there and drag the whole thing to the compost pile. It was a big help.

 

I hung a small string of solar powered lights I had from the low tree branches.

 

Using solar powered means I can put these lights anywhere. No electric outlets needed! I made sure to put this small solar panel at the end of the string in the sun. It needs to get the sunlight to charge itself everyday. (As you can see my lights are getting old but they still work great.)

 

I wrapped the string of lights around and between the branches so it would stay up in the tree even on a windy day. I know fall will blow in with some cold weather and I don't want to have to rehang this.

 

I found this vintage bike on the side of the road a long time ago. (It had a sign that said "FREE".)  It is going to make a really fun focal point in my garden.  Instead of a bike you could also use items like a child's wagon, a tree stump, or old outdoor chair or table. Anything to set the plants on or around.

 

I added a basket to the front of the bike. I wanted to put something pretty in the basket.

 

I had 2 ideas for flowers and I decided to show you both ideas. I put some artificial white flowers in a basket and put the basket into the bike basket. I know some people do not like to mess with real flowers. And I know fake flowers really bother serious gardeners. 

I put a rubber band around the end to hold the stems in a bouquet position. 

I separated the flowers to make the whole bouquet look big and full.

 

I also went to a farm stand and bought a real living white mum plant to go with arrangement.

 

I put both my floral choices on display. Make the floral choices that works best for you. I like the white combination and it fills in my empty garden nicely.

When the lights start to shine at dusk the whole arrangement looks very sweet. It is nice to have some soft lighting in the backyard at night too. I have to water the mum plant but otherwise I don't have to tend to this at all. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

***Year End Update- I don't like gardening that much but I enjoy this lovely little spot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Fall Y'All

Hello Readers. That title reveals my slight southern accent (Is y'all a southern term?) but it is officially Fall now. It is still hot here but I decided to embrace the season by redecorating the front porch. Without spending any money!

I had this orange jacket/shirt thing from a clothes swap. They color is great for fall. It was too big for me to wear as it was and there was one thing I didn't really like about it. Can you guess what it is? The GIGANTIC knot buttons were just not my style I guess. I am pretty short so maybe they look big on me. They just felt so huge.

If I ignored the front, the back was nice and plain. I could use it to make anything to create something for my front porch. KC the Wonder Dog was there to help me.

I cut out a vaguely pumpkin-ish shape. It isn't perfect, that is OK. I am going to make a pillow and when it is stuffed I think it will look even and balanced. And are pumpkins perfectly even and balanced? 

I also had this brown turtleneck shirt from the same clothes swap. It is a great shirt but I don't like the tight band around my neck. I feel like I am being strangled by them.

I cut the neckband off. I will save the shirt for another refashion another day.

Here is the back of my pillow. I sewed the center seam shut but left a small opening and left the knot button as a closure so I can stuff it. 

This is the front of the pillow. It is nice and plain. Maybe a little too plain. I will work on that too. And the stem needs to be more stem shaped.

I stuffed some plastic bags into the pillow. They are good for outdoor use and free! This pillow won't really be used like on a sofa or bed. So the crinkle of the plastic bags is OK.

I used a brown Sharpee marker to make curved brown lines down the pumpkin. It is subtle but it gave it more of a pumpkin look. You can see here I shaped the brown fabric stem as well.

There was a lot of fabric left from the arms. It's too much fabric to go to waste.

I put the arms together and made a long sash. I wasn't sure what to do with it yet. 

I used the sash on my door with a sign my daughter made for me when the little guy was born. I love it. The sash coordinates with the pumpkin pillow. My summer flowers are still in good shape so I tied some fall ribbon around the pots and left them on the porch.

*** KIDS CRAFT IDEA ***

This little pumpkin is a nice simple craft for kids. It is just a toilet paper roll wrapped in fabric. You stuff the fabric into the center of the roll. Thin fabric is best and orange is nice but not the only color you can use. 

Then you can twist a paper stem and stuff it in the center too. No messy glue needed!

Thanks for reading, now go make something fun for yourself.

Happy Fall Y'all!