Saturday, June 9, 2012

Make a gorgeous cushion from a shirt

I have just finished making a lovely cushion from a second hand linen shirt. I bought the shirt for $2 specifically to do this. The inner is a Fairydown feather inner - 16x20inches.








Here is how I did it:

1.Get a cushion inner the size you want. Have a shirt in the material, colour and style you want. Make sure it is a button through shirt not a pull on.
measure shirt for cutting
After cutting
2. Place the cushion on the well ironed shirt (buttoned up) and cut out around (so that you are cutting two layers at the same time) - don't forget to allow for seams. Or measure your cushion size, add seam allowance and then cut that out of the shirt

3. Sew the top seam only so that the material becomes a oblong.

4. Add all the embellishments that you want. Sew them along the full length of the material and then it will cover both sides of the finished cushion.
Front

Back - with a perfect opening 

5. Fold the trimmed material in half along current seam line - right sides together. Sew around the other three sides. Then unbutton the buttons, turn inside out and press. Viola your finished cushion. With a perfect opening, professional button holes all matching up - without having to do the hard work yourself.

10 comments:

  1. Aw, Karen, that is so clever, and lovely!

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  2. Love that you upcycled a shirt. I try to upcycle whenever i can.

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  3. Very clever refashion!!! The embellishments and lace are co-ordinated beautifully to make a great cushion.

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    1. Hi Karen, Just letting you know I've included your pretty cushion in a roundup of projects refashioned from shirts. I've also added it to our latest linky - Reusing Shirts and Ties. Hope that's OK.

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    2. Thanks Pam, great to be encouraged by you. I love your link ups and often go to them for inspiration to see what others have done.

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  4. That's a great idea. Looks lovely. So quick and simple, very clever.

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  5. This was very clever and the end result is so pretty with the lace and ribbon. I am going to remember this!

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  6. This is so fab…love upcycling!!

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