I went to Goodwill a couple of weeks ago looking for some cable knit sweaters, so I could make some winterized and cozy pillows for our den. I didn’t see any sweaters that I really loved, but I did see these two button down shirts that screamed “make me into Christmas pillows!”! I had seen this tutorial on making pillow covers from men’s shirts, so I knew what I had to do. The shirts were $5 each; not a steal, but I thought they were worth a try. Doesn't that look like a Christmas plaid?
We have two of these pillows residing on our den couch that I wanted to use. They measure 20x20, but I made the pillow covers about 18x18 so they would fit snugly. I like the idea of being able to take the covers off once Christmas is over and not having a bulky pillow to store.
To make the pillow covers, keep the shirt buttoned and use a rotary cutter to slice through both the front and back of the shirt at the same time. For the first shirt, I cut through the side seams, and this was not the way to do it. It really goes a lot faster if you lay your shirt flat, lay your pillow on top and eyeball the size, then cut with your rotary cutter. Plaid shirts make it super easy to cut since you can just follow one of the lines with your rotary cutter. Make sure you pay attention to the pocket on the shirt (if it has one). I liked the little extra detail it gave the cover, so I left the pocket on and worked around it.
Once your pieces are cut, turn them right sides together and sew around all four sides using about a 1/2 inch seam allowance. I love that you can sew all four sides since the button down part of the shirt acts as your opening. No going back and hand stitching!
Isn’t it cute?! I love the extra detail that the buttons add to the pillow.
And guess what? These can be taken off and thrown in the washer! How awesome is that?!
Here they are looking all nice and cozy on our den couch.
I played around with a few different layouts of the pillows…
And decided that I liked the buttons facing out the best!
There are so many different possibilities when using button up shirts as pillow covers! Go raid your husband’s closet and turn those ugly shirts into cute pillow covers! I’ve got my eye on several of Ben’s shirts…
Beth
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