Years ago, in the midst of my life as a teacher, I acquired quite a collection of holiday sweatshirts. What can I say? It was elementary school. Elementary school teachers lose their minds early on and then begin dressing strangely. Surely, you've noticed.
At one point, I tried to get crafty with my sweatshirts and made a few that, for whatever reason, I hung onto. I no longer wear them. I have no desire to wear them. I don't foresee ever changing my mind on that, so why have I hung onto them? I had them packed up with my holiday stuff, and instead of looking at them and then packing them back up, I decided to turn a few of them into Christmas pillows.
Here's the result of my first sweatshirt RE-Purpose:
I pulled out an old pillow, a few bits of fabric to consider incorporating and the sweatshirt.
The appliqued Santa was still in good shape after many washings, but a little1980's country-ish, which, by the way, is about when he was probably created.
I cut out a rectangle from the sweatshirt and zig-zagged it onto canvas painter's drop cloth fabric. The canvas had been washed and prepared for use ages ago.
I decided to use green and cream toile left over from a previous project for the piping.
For the back of the fabric I used leftover bits of the sweatshirt. I made it so that it overlapped in back, like a bed pillow sham. I cut the sweatshirt fabric in such a way that the stretchy bottom of the sweatshirt (I know there's a name for that and I can't think of it right now) was on the overlap edges. That turned out pretty nice - no hemming, plus the stretchy bit keeps everything in place well. DO take note of the bits of fur on the green sweatshirt. I had sewing assistance from some of my four legged friends.
For now, it's on a family room chair, but I am thinking about moving it to the porch.
If I were starting a Christmas pillow from scratch today, I'd no doubt make something very different. This one is not really my style, but I feel pretty good about giving my old sweatshirt a new life. I do love RE-purposing! I am also enjoying looking at my handiwork from years ago.
At one point, I tried to get crafty with my sweatshirts and made a few that, for whatever reason, I hung onto. I no longer wear them. I have no desire to wear them. I don't foresee ever changing my mind on that, so why have I hung onto them? I had them packed up with my holiday stuff, and instead of looking at them and then packing them back up, I decided to turn a few of them into Christmas pillows.
Here's the result of my first sweatshirt RE-Purpose:
I pulled out an old pillow, a few bits of fabric to consider incorporating and the sweatshirt.
I cut out a rectangle from the sweatshirt and zig-zagged it onto canvas painter's drop cloth fabric. The canvas had been washed and prepared for use ages ago.
I decided to use green and cream toile left over from a previous project for the piping.
For the back of the fabric I used leftover bits of the sweatshirt. I made it so that it overlapped in back, like a bed pillow sham. I cut the sweatshirt fabric in such a way that the stretchy bottom of the sweatshirt (I know there's a name for that and I can't think of it right now) was on the overlap edges. That turned out pretty nice - no hemming, plus the stretchy bit keeps everything in place well. DO take note of the bits of fur on the green sweatshirt. I had sewing assistance from some of my four legged friends.
If I were starting a Christmas pillow from scratch today, I'd no doubt make something very different. This one is not really my style, but I feel pretty good about giving my old sweatshirt a new life. I do love RE-purposing! I am also enjoying looking at my handiwork from years ago.