Superdrag Pillow!

I love sewing & I love music. I also love re-using things that were otherwise going to be thrown away. 

These three loves of mine were the inspiration for my latest project - the Superdrag pillow!

S loves live music & as a result, he has so many concert t-shirts. We have been steadily going through our belongings & trying to downsize. The other weekend we both went through our closets & compiled three large trash bags of clothes we wanted to donate to Goodwill. Some of our clothes were un-donateable...really, unwearable, on the last thread of their existence.

While I do not mind tossing out old socks with holes in them & other like-minded clothes, I could not stomach S wanting to toss out some of his old concert t-shirts! I mean, those things have a history! Concert t-shirts should last forever, even if they have holes in the armpits & fraying threads everywhere. 

Concert t-shirts are reminders of good times that were had & should be kept forever!  

Since S was not as moved as I was, I confiscated his three concert t-shirts from the trash pile & made the decision to make pillows out of them. I mean, he had had the Superdrag t-shirt for over 10 years....I could not let him throw it away!

I spent all day yesterday making this one so I could surprise S when we saw each other at the end of the day.

I finished it just in time & he was surely surprised! 

I was happy. =)

I hope you are inspired to re-use an item of yours that was destined for the trash bin & make it into something beautiful!

Before!

Check out the frayed collar

And the holes in the armpits!

This t-shirt is perfect to me......I can't believe S wanted to toss it away!

I drew up my own "pattern". I re-did the measurements a few times, but in the end the project turned out exactly how I wanted.

During!

Front panel

I interfaced every piece of fabric that went into this pillow.

I used a mix of vintage t-shirt, vintage canvas, designer quilting fabric, non-designer quilting fabric (the yellow), & a random piece of hippie-looking fabric I bought in 2009.

The entire front - finished

I cut & pieced those triangle pieces myself!

And check out that aqua piping---awesome!

The front & back panels - I opted for an exposed zipper for a quirky look

After!


Click the pictures to make them bigger!

Back zipper detail

Side detail

Other side detail

Biscuit & the Superdrag Pillow!

Superdrag!

DIY Big Bow Pillow

I love to create. I cook, I sew, I scrapbook, I decoupage, I paint, I transform ordinary things to extraordinary pieces of art! I love it all. So when I stumbled across this tutorial in the blogosphere, I knew I had to try it!

A few years back I "inherited" the old Brother sewing machine that my little brother, sister, and I learned how to sew on...20 years ago! Its red and white, has 2 stitches (straight and zig zaggy) and best of all, it still works! I mostly use it for making my 2 kitties new nip toys. I have been harboring an idea for a few years though that I will open an Etsy store with my awesome purse and pillow designs. One day...one day! 

Today though, I made this big bow pillow to share the sofa space with the 2 patchwork pillows I made earlier this year. 

Here's how I did it!

When S and I combined our households, all the way back in 2009 when we moved in together, we both brought pillows, so many pillow, to the party. Somehow between the two of us we ended up with 10 bed pillows! Ten! So this October (2011) S made me a deal that if I could re-purpose some of the more beat-up and uncomfortable-to-sleep-on pillows, then we could keep them. And all the old pillows I did not use, he would get to throw away on November 1st.

So, me being me, I thought about pillows for about three weeks, and finally got around to making one! It is now November 10th, and S has not thrown away any of the old pillows (yet!) but that is probably because he put them all in my closet, so he doesn't have to look at them!

Now on to the tutorial!

I cut one old pillow in half, because I didn't want my decorative Bow Pillow to be too big. 

Even though this pillow was so flat to sleep on, and not comfortable in any way, it still had SO MUCH STUFFING! 

It was difficult sewing it up again, but I persevered. I used a slip stitch, and did not worry that the stitching was wonky, because the pretty cover was going on top of it. 

Close up of the stitching.

Check our the rest of the Big Bow Pillow, after the break!