A Spring Pillow With Buttons

 Hello Readers. Spring is here. The sunshine, the blossoming trees, the flowers... I wanted to make a springtime pillow with bright fun colors to celebrate spring. I don't know how to embroider by hand so I decided to simplify and use my sewing machine and some colorful buttons.

 

Make an easy colorful spring pillow. 

 

I already had this chair from IKEA. I have had it for years and years. The little pillow is from IKEA too. It has a little cover or pillow case. We are going to use that to do our sewing. (Similar pillow cover here.)

 

I took the cover off the pillow. The cover is what I will be sewing my spring flowers on. It will fit in my sewing machine easily. Using a sewing machine will make this a quick project. It is perfect for a beginning sewist or someone just learning how to use a sewing machine because the stitching does NOT need to be perfect at all.
 

I did my sewing at the bottom of the pillow near the zipper closure of the pillow. The zipper made it easy to get one side of the pillow cover under the sewing machine foot.

I sewed straight lines along the bottom of the pillow. That will be the "ground or grass" that out flowers will be growing out of. Then I started sewing shorter lines perpendicular to that "grass" to make my flower stems.

I started with one shade of green to make my grass, flower stems, and leaves. Then I went over those lines of stitching with another shade of green.

When I was done using all the shades of green thread I had on hand, I had 4 different shades of green all sewn on top of each other. I wanted the different shades of green to give it some depth and variation. 

My next step was to sew on the buttons by hand. I used the colors that caught my eye. Any colors that you like are fine. I used the largest buttons I had so they would really pop. Use any buttons you like. (Similar here.) I threaded the needle and stitched through the holes in the button and tied a knot in the inside of the pillow cover.

I used embroidery floss to sew my buttons on my pillow cover. You could also use thread. I sewed the buttons to the pillow and it only took a few minutes. 

My pillow was so fun to make. It was "no stress-just fun sewing". Grab a pillow cover and you can make this fun project. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

Hammock Pillow

Hello Readers. How have you been doing lately? I have been trying to relax and pretend I am in the middle of a surprise stay-cation. I am not being restricted to my house, I am just chilling out at home watching "Lady and the Tramp" with my 5 year old everyday. 

(His movie review -"The dogs talk!" And yes, now he wants another dog.)

I found this dress at a clothes swap a while back. I thought it was a strange dress because it looked like it was made of burlap. Who makes a ladies dress of burlap? It had such pretty embroidery on it but burlap, really? You can see the hem was higher than the lining. After further investigation I think the dress is linen but it shrunk and the weave got tighter and lumpy. It looked rough like burlap but it wasn't actually made from an animal feed sack.

After a lot of ironing this is what the fabric looked like. It just didn't look like clothing fabric to me. It looked like outdoor decorating fabric to me. So.....

I made a pillow. I know it's not very ambitious or exciting but it matched my backyard hammock. I can use it to lounge by the sandbox and enjoy the nice spring weather.

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

When In Doubt...Pillows

Hello Readers. Every once in a while I find something so wonderful and unusual at a clothes swap that, I don't even know what to do with it. This fuzzy sweater was just such a find.

 It was such a soft fuzzy chenille I just wanted to hug it. I did actually hold it for quite a while. I brought it home, washed it, and did some thinking. I knew it was too big. The knit was so loose, I was afraid to cut it in any way. If I couldn't cut it, it would be difficult to refashion.

It was so soft, fuzzy, and squishy, my daughter said it looked like a Muppet costume.
(The Muppet Show defined my childhood more than anything else.) 

I decided that it would make a fabulous pillow. I turned it inside-out and stitched a rectangle shape. I left an opening to stuff it and turned it right-side out. I didn't cut the excess fabric or the sleeves off. I left them attached and inside the sweater/pillow. I was afraid of cutting the material. I thought it would really unravel so fast I wouldn't have time to bind it back together. The sleeves and extra sweater material helped fill up the pillow like stuffing, so it was a win-win. This sweater was so stretchy that I could tell it would take a ton off stuffing to fill it. I only had 2 bags of stuffing in my sewing stash, I was going to run out quickly.

I decided to put a button in the middle of each side of the pillow and connect them together by hand. I picked the biggest matching buttons I had. The buttons pulled the pillow in at the center and made it a little thinner. All the stuffing I had filled up the rest of the pillow nicely.

Here is the finished pillow. It is soft and floppy. The chair is at my sewing table so this is where I sit when I am sewing. It makes the chair a little more comfortable.

I also made another pillow to go with it. This shirt came all the way from Italy. My mother-in-law gave it to my daughter but it shrunk a little in the wash and it was too tight. She really loved the design and didn't know what to do with it. It seemed perfect for a sewing room.

I left the shirt right-side-out and stitched a rectangle around the design on the shirt. I left a couple inches of fabric around the edges. And an opening to add stuffing, of course.

I cut the excess fabric around the edges into thin fringe with my sewing scissors.

The fringe was a quick, easy, and cheap way to dress up the little pillow. My chair is a little more fun and a lot more cushy now.

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

  *Year end update-The furry pillow turned into a lint making monster and I had to get rid of it. I was covered in white fuzz every time I sewed. The yellow pillow is still perfect for my sewing chair.

T-shirt to Pillow

Hello Readers. I love t-shirts. I love to wear them and I love to work with them. I am always trying to find new and fun projects and refashions for t-shirts. That is what we are going to talk about today.

 

 Here is the t-shirt I found at a clothes swap. It caught my eye because it seemed to have such a serious message. My zombie survival plan will fail? I didn't even have a plan. Did I need a plan? Is everyone out there already planning for some upcoming zombie event? 

The shirt was my size, so I took it home.

I did a little research and found out this shirt is a promo item for a video game about, you guessed it, zombies. I think it was called "Outbbreak". Anyway, I decided to try and make the shirt a little more "cute" if I could. Can a zombie shirt be cute? We were going to find out.

I just shortened the shirt and tied a knot in the front. Easy-peasy! It matched my colored denim perfect. But, I am just not into the zombie thing. What else could I do with a t-shirt?

I decided to keep working with this shirt. I cut out the words with a little fabric around them. I also cut a piece from the back the same size. I was going to make a cute little zombie pillow.

Usually when you make a pillow you put the right sides facing each other and stitch them together. I didn't do that. I kept the right sides out. I stitched a rectangle shape close to the words and left the extra fabric at the edges. That gave me a border of fabric to play with.

 I left a little opening and stuffed the pillow with basic stuffing from the fabric store. Then I closed up the rectangular pillow. I used sharp scissors to cut that plain border of fabric around the words into fringe. It was FREE trim dress up my pillow. I was very careful not to cut the seam that was holding the pillow together.

Here is my pillow. I am still not a zombie fan but I like how the pillow turned out This sort of easy t-shirt pillow project would be great for a kids room too. They could help cut the fringe.

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

Or go work on your zombie survival plan.

*Year end update- I loved the fringe on this. I think the pillow itself is lost in my older son's room.

Making Pillows

Hello Readers. Today's project started as a spectacular shirt covered with dogs.

***   PILLOW 1   ***

Seriously, check out this material. I assume the dog is out enjoying the great outdoors and hunting the ducks? This just isn't my style. What should I do with this shirt? I have been thinking about this for quite a while. Even if this shirt fit well, I wouldn't really want to wear it.

I realized there was someone that would like this shirt a lot. I needed to alter it for them. I started by removing the collar. I had come up with an idea for that collar. I also removed one cuff. I was going to need that too.

 

I made the cuff a little more narrow and used it as a connector to connect the collar together in the front. I needed the collar to fit a really big neck.

 Here is the guy who is going to wear his collar. I turned the shirt inside out and sewed it into a square shape. The buttons let me open it and stuff a pillow inside. Every dog needs a pillow right? He has never caught a duck but he would if he could. He can't, he's slow and lazy.

 

 Here you can see how much he loves his new dress-up collar and his new pillow. He always looks a little depressed but he really liked it when I put the pillow down and let him rest his big head on it.

 I like how the pillow stays on but can be removed and washed.

 

You can see the collar here. He looks like a sharp dressed dog. The cuff had a button and button hole already sp it is a perfect way to make the collar big enough for K.C. the Wonder Dog.

***   PILLOW 2   ***

This second pillow started as a small curtain. I hung it up so you could see it. I liked this fabric a lot but I didn't need a curtain. I thought I could turn this into a pillow instead.

I folded the curtain over and onto itself so that I was making a tube. I then closed up one open end.

Here is my pillow form. It will go inside of the curtain pillow.

Here is my pillow after I stitched the final edge closed. I stitched around the edge twice to make it strong and to make it look nicely finished.

The blue, white and yellow fabric matched my family room. This new pillow fit right in. It is comfortable for lounging, and we all need to lounge right?

Now my dog and I both have a pillow. Thanks for reading, now go make something fun for yourself. Or your dog.

*Year end update- These pillows are still being used. My dog loves his pillow. Actually he loves any pillow. 

A Dress-Extender From A Pillowcase?

Hello Readers. Have you ever had a dress that was a little too short?

This light blue shirt dress was great but it was a little too short on my tall daughter. I usually need to shorten clothes because I am so short. My daughter has the opposite problem. She is tall and clothes can be too short on her. She needed a quick and easy dress extender/under skirt to wear with this blue dress.

This dress is a bit shorter on the sides, just like a typical men's shirt. That made it even shorter on my tall daughter. That's is where the dress extender comes in. It would add a little coverage for this short dress.

We were discussing the dress and I came across this pillowcase. (I was folding laundry.) It is a standard size case but it is made of knit material, like a T-shirt. The soft material got me thinking. It would make a soft skirt. Would it work under the blue shirt dress?

I cut off the closed end of the pillowcase. I was going to keep the open end of the case and use the finished edge as my hem. That would save time and effort. (I should call this blog "The Lazy Seamstress", because that's what I am.) I did some measuring so it would fit my daughter and work for the blue dress. It couldn't be too long or too short.

I folded the cut edge in and under to make a casing for an elastic waistband. It was an easy way to make a skirt and it would be comfortable to wear.  I cut a length of elastic that fit around my daughter's waist. I fit the elastic through the casing, connected the ends, and stitched the casing shut.

Here is a look at this simple white skirt. I could have added something to make the actual dress longer but decided to make this because it could be used with and under other things. 

This skirt fit well and it just peeks out from the blue dress and it adds a little coverage on the sides. That was just what my daughter wanted.  We didn't add trim or anything that would distract from the blue dress. It would be easy to add some lace or something like that to dress it up if you wanted to.

Thanks for reading this blog, I love all my readers. Now, go make something fun for yourself.

*Year end update- My daughter cleaned out her closet and gave this outfit back to me. It was nice to wear in the heat of summer.