Sweater to Slip Cover Upcycle

One of my New Year's ReSewlutions was to do more sewing for my home.  We are a month into 2014, and I have one little project to prove I'm moving in the right direction (progress is progress right).

I've had this chunky cable knit sweater in my refashion pile for quite some time.  I finally chopped it up, and turned it into something pretty, a new pillow slip cover for my couch.

Because it was a button up sweater, all I had to do was cut out my material, which proved to be the most difficult part, and then sew four straight lines.

I chopped off the hood, and the arms of the sweater, trying to save as much of the fabric as possible.

 I then cut my material into a square that was roughly the size of my pillow form.  I would have loved to have the buttons offset on my slip cover, but I didn't have enough material to work with.

I turned the material so that the right sides were facing, stitched around all four sides, and then finished off my edges.  With this chunky knit, the stitches unraveled quickly, so I really had to make sure that I caught all of the secure material in my seam allowance.

 I love the open weave of the sweater slipcover, and the wood buttons have a certain amount of charm.

One little step in the right direction.  

My two year old thinks that this project is absurd, and continues to try to undress my pillow.  At least he is getting plenty of practice learning to button and button something.

Bridal Shower Throw Pillow: Tonight, Not Tonight

We'll I am back with a project.  I broke down and decided to take some photos with my husband's ipod.  They aren't great quality, but they're something.  I wanted to show you the pillow that I made for my new Sister-In-Law.  It's a pillow with a message.  Communication is generally an area that needs to be improved upon by newly weds.  This pillow aids in sending the message when body language, facial expressions aren't enough.

The pillow front has an embroidered dandelion and the word "tonight".

I made a freezer paper stencil for the pillow, but the freezer paper didn't adhere well to the thick duck cloth. To avoid bleeding, I used a fine tipped fabric marker to fill in the text (rather than fabric paint).

The back side features the pillow cover closure, seven unique yellow buttons, and the "Not Tonight" message.

I was pretty pleased with the way that the pillow turned out.  Hopefully they'll get a kick out of it.

The dandelion image was inspired by this pillow that I featured a while back.

Thanks for reading.