Tropical pillow

Hello, hope you are having a wonderful day!  My project today is an easy and fun one!  I made a pillow cover from an old Hawaiian shirt.  This would be a good way to cover pillows for seasonal change, you could use any shirt you like.

before

Materials I used were:  Ruler, Scissors, Sewing machine, Thread,  Seam ripper, Iron, Old mens shirt size XL, Ugly old pillow

1. Measure the pillow you wish to cover. My pillow was 16 X 16 inches.
2. Cut the shirt back out close to the seams.  When it is finished it will look like this.

3.  Now measure a 16 inch square and cut it out.  (fast tip:  measure 16 inches, snip the fabric and then tear it across.  This only works with woven cottons!)

You should now have a 16 inch square of fabric.

4.  Next I will cut the front of the shirt.  Lay the shirt on a flat surface and button it closed.  Take your pillow measurement and divide it by 2.  For my pillow I will have 8 inches.  Now I lay my ruler across the shirt and line the 8 up with the center of the button.  This way the buttons will be in the center of the pillow cover,  measure out 8 inches from the center of the button to the right and left sides and then cut off the sides.  Next measure up 16 inches from the bottom of the shirt and cut here.  In my case the pocket of the shirt was in the way...no problem.  Remove the pocket with a seam ripper.

2, 16 inch squares

5.  Put the two squares right sides together and sew all around the edges with your sewing machine.  I used a 1/2 inch seam allowance.

6.  Unbutton your cover and turn it right side out.  Iron it.  Insert pillow through the front, making sure to tuck in those corners!  Now button the front.  And there you have it!  An easy to sew and easy to remove pillow cover.

I think it looks great!!

Cost :$6.00 ( thrift store pillow $2, thrift store shirt $4

Time: 1 hour

By the way cut the buttons off of the rest of the shirt and start your button jar.  Here is mine it cost me $2 at the thrift store.

Button Jar with one button in it!

Have fun creating and let me know your ideas I love to hear new ways to do things!!