Uncommon Pillows

I had some cloth purses which Gil brought back from Thailand, and a couple of tunics from another source, and I wanted to use them in some way because I really liked the fabric and the embroidery. I decided to make pillows out of them for my back porch, which is where we spend most of our time during the spring and summer.

To make a pillow out of a purse, I first cut off the handle, leaving enough fabric to turn it and match the finished edge of the middle of the purse:


I pressed down the raw edges:

Then I stuffed it and pinned the top edge. For this pillow, I simply sewed the top together with a zigzag stitch.

I think that these purses make particularly fun and unusual pillows because of the fringe:

To make a pillow of out a tunic, I measured it out and marked it with a fabric marker. I decided to make it 15" wide. I chose the length to include all of the embroidery. Then I cut it out, using the back of the tunic for the back of the pillow.

To square off the neck, I placed a piece of leftover fabric behind the neckline and stitched it on along the embroidery:

I added rickrack to this pillow and then I sewed it together the traditional way, which is: right sides together, turn, stuff, and slipstitch the opening.

They added some nice splashes of color to the porch:

Pillows are really easy to make. Even if you don't have the odd, random items I used to make these pillows, maybe this will inspire you to use something you do already have.