KidsHaus

DIY: T-shirt to Pillow

I'm happy to say that Jana has found the time to pull together another craft project for KidsHaus. She'll explain, through her tutorial, how she re-purposed one of her son's favorite Oilily t-shirts into a pillow. Unfortunately, I'm all thumbs with my sewing machine, so I'll have to bribe Jana into transforming one of our favorite dresses or tees. I hope you enjoy!

Step 1: Find a favorite or nostalgic t-shirt, dress or fabric
Step 2: Find a pillow insert. You can find these at your local craft or fabric store
Step 3: Iron everything before beginning to sew
Step 4: Cut the shirt to fit the pillow's dimensions
Step 5: For a contrasting pattern (i chose yellow polka dots), cut fabric to size and pin it together
Step 6: Sew fabric together and press seams open
Step 7: Zigzag stitch every seam
Step 8: Measure everything
Step 9: Measure everything (again!)
Step 10: After 3 sides are sewn, clip the corners
Step 11: Sew the open side together by hand
Voila! you're keepsake pillow is complete! For complete instructions and photos, read here...

 

Maki Squarepatch

You could easily spend hours perusing Maki Squarepatch's site with all of their quirky, hand-made items. They've got everything from stuffed toys, purses, small pouches, clothing, holiday ornaments and so on. All of their goodies are about recycling discarded, unwanted items and breathing new life into them so that they become treasures for someone else to love. You can't help but feel happy when looking at everything that they've created.

K Studio Pillows

K Studios is a mother and daughter team that creates quirky and endearing pillows made from sustainable materials such as hemp, organic cotton and recycled wool. The production is made in-house and managed by Mary and Shelly Klein. It's hard to resist buying a couple of these pillows especially knowing who's behind each creation and knowing that they're supporting sustainable living. Their range of pillows can be found at Design Public.

Jamie Irene DIY

Are you one of those knitting fanatics? I aspire to be one of those talented 'knitters' someday. My sister-in-law taught herself to knit in a month and now she's unstoppable -- churning out gorgeous sweaters, dresses and socks for my girls. Anyhow...the reason why I ask the question is because Seattle artisan, Jamie Irene, has created a line of nifty DIY knitting kits for adorable children's pillows and backpacks that would be fun to craft in time for the holidays. All necessary yarn, buttons, zipper, accessories, patterns, pillow inserts (if pillow kit), and assembly directions are included.  Check out my previous post about Jamie's fabulous line of already assembled, felted wool pillows and backpacks.

Glug Baby

I've known Glug Baby to have fantastic t-shirts but somehow their pillows flew under my radar. They're just as cute...

PJ Pocket Pillow

We're off for a mini family-road-trip to Portland this morning. It's such a fun and easy place to escape with the girls. We'll be making a couple of kid-friendly stops that I'll be sure to highlight next week. Until then, I thought I'd leave you with these Japanese anemone boxes so beautifully designed by Modern-Twist. They make a great place to stash stuffies, PJs, toys or a baby sister (just kidding).

Zid Zid Kids

I was tickled to see these adorable ZZK cushions from Zid Zid Kids because I could just imagine the Bean using it as a her pal-around stuffy or as a pillow to snuggle up with. Imported from Morocco and designed by Moulay Essakalli and Julie Klear whose illustrations have been showcased in museums and galleries nationwide. They're whimsical, illustrative quality are really sweet. I'm partial to the owl with his floral patch pocket...

The same designers have created the Mini Poof. What a great spin on the traditional Moroccan poof. With such a beautiful array of illustrations and colors, it's tempting to collect all of them. They're made of 100% brushed flannel cotton and are washable!