Create Unique Pillows from Thrift Shop Clothing

While browsing through a thrift store recently, I spotted a beautiful coral dress made from an Indian fabric, complete with embroidered, beaded, and jeweled hem and neckline detailing. It wasn’t my size unfortunately, but it was too pretty to pass up. I love the color coral~ it’s usually my “go to” choice if I want to use something in the red family, and I thought it would work well in our master bedroom or in our mocha brown living room. 

Thrift Store Dress Turned Pillows

While I do not have a basic throw pillow tutorial, I will briefly describe how I made pillows from this dress, and then give you a link to another pillow tutorial I wrote that can easily be adapted to make these. ( to make simple envelope style pillows, read this tutorial I wrote for us novice sewing girls 🙂 )

I thought I wanted fringe trim on these, but after sewing it on, it really distracted from the beauty of the fabric and sort of overwhelmed it, so I removed it. (Way to spend more money on fringe trim than on the total of the dress and both pillow forms! Oh, and a seam ripper is a novice sewer’s bff!! ) 

Here are the basic steps to make pillows from a dress:

Supplies needed: a dress, a good pair of sewing scissors, pins, seam ripper, hem ruler or fusible hem tape like Thermoweb Heat & Bond, tape measure, pillow form, matching thread ( match as close to your fabric or trim if you will be using that), iron/ironing board, embellishments of your choice ( beads, sequins, buttons, ribbon, trim- tassel, fringe, beaded, etc ), hot glue gun with glue sticks, and sewing machine with top thread and bobbin loaded and ready to go! You will use a standard straight stitch setting for this project. 

• Lay the dress out to measure how many pillows you can make. I would have loved to have had (2) 18 x 18 pillows. but there was only enough for (2) 12 x 16 pillows or one large pillow.  
• Cut the dress down each side seam and across the shoulder seams to have 2 separate pieces. After doing this, I realized this particular dress was actually 3 layers: the top piece, a tan color lining, and the back piece. 
• Next, I trimmed the embroidered, beaded, and jeweled hem and neckline off of the dress and then set that aside.
• Measure approximately 14 x 17 starting at the top of the fabric (for a 12 x 16 pillow) allowing for a 1 inch hem at the bottom, 1 inch seam allowance ( the space you will allow to sew around the perimeter ) on the top, and 1 inch on either side. I say starting at the top of the fabric if you plan on making several pillows~ this allows optimal use of all fabric. You want to make sure after cutting the dress apart that the large piece of fabric has a consistent width and length. If it doesn’t, trim it so that it does ( it just makes for easier cutting and more uniform pillows)

The layer provided the tan behind the front dress designs, so I had to sew the two pieces together after cutting the dress apart.

• I laid the embroidered, beaded, and jeweled neckline and hemline pieces out on the top piece of fabric and made a pattern that sort of echoed the dress design. I had to hem a few of the pieces by hand sewing them because some of the jewels and beads got in the way of the presser foot on my machine. Basically, I did this so that the edges looked neat in my design. Use any type of design you think is pleasing to the eye here…that’s the fun part!  I laid those pieces aside again.
• At this point, follow this tutorial to sew the pillow, eliminating the fringe trim. (Basic pillow recap: iron a 1 inch hem or use a fusible hem tape onto the front and back piece of fabric. Pin the fabric together with like sides facing each other, pin with ball of pin down and sharp edge up so that you can easily remove pins as you sew. Sew 3 sides, and part of the 4th side, leaving an opening large enough to fit the pillow form. Insert pillow form, make sure hem is neatly ironed and folded out of the way, and whipstitch ( by hand with a needle and thread ) opening with matching or clear thread.)

Lay your pillow down with the front of the pillow facing you and get your decorative embellishments again. Arrange your decorative elements in any design pattern you think is pleasing to the eye, and use a hot glue gun to secure it to the fabric. 

I really like the happy burst of coral in this otherwise mostly neutral living room. I think the mocha brown walls look really pretty with coral, as well. Easy to change or move upstairs to the master bedroom when I want a more neutral look again. My husband has a co-worker from India and we asked her what this gorgeous fabric was called. She said it is generally referred to as chamki work and the fabric might be a silk cotton type. Thanks, Anu! Just lovely!

One more pillow I made recently was a pillow for my youngest son’s room from one of his old t-shirts. Here are more details on that.

Boy’s Room Pillow from A Favorite T-Shirt

My youngest son had a favorite t-shirt he wore until it literally had holes in it ( it was that preshrunk, sort of aged looking, 100% cotton, very soft type) and it was from our favorite beach destination, so I thought with the fish design on the back it would make a great looking pillow for his room.

I thought it would look great with some jute loop fringe trim, so I bought enough for a 16 x 16 pillow ( 16 x 4 = 64, divided by 36 = 1.77, so I got a little more than 2 yds to be on the safe side and allow for a little corner overlap) Follow this tutorial if you’d like to make this fringed pillow. I list all the supplies and steps on that post 🙂

 

I really love the way the soft beachy colors look with the rustic jute trim detail, and we didn’t have to throw his favorite t-shirt away because it was worn, but instead we repurposed it. 

Making pillows, scarves, and all sorts of items from vintage or thrift store clothing finds is a great way to add your own touch to a space in your home. Add your own trim, ribbon, buttons, beads, etc. to give it a look that is one-of-a-kind and uniquely yours!

I hope you were inspired to create something beautiful from a vintage, thrift shop, or item in your own closet today! Let me know if you have any questions or if you have created something like this~ I love to hear your creative ideas that we all can share! 🙂

Thanks for reading~’Til next time, my friends! 

xoxo

I was ecstatic to have this project featured in the Atlanta Home Improvement Magazine in July 2015! Thank you! 🙂