Thrifty Gifty #1—Repurpose Clothing as Pillows

Joining Frugal Friday at the Shabby Nest and Holiday Linky Friday at The Inspired Room. and Sat. Night Special at Funky Junk Interiors.I’m going to be doing a series through Christmas on really inexpensive gifts you can make with thrift store finds. Also, linky parties for you to show your thrifty gifts Dec. 4, 11, and 18. Grab my button (code on sidebar) and spread the word!

It all started with this faux suede pillow. I got it at Goodwill several weeks ago for $2 for my son’s room. But then I decided I liked it on my white couch for fall/winter, and I needed more.

A few days later, I found a pair of genuine suede pants at my consignment store outlet for $1. I already had a couple of pillows that had seen better days. I cut off the legs at the knees. These particular pillows fit perfectly inside the legs. I created ruffles from a strip cut from the very bottom of each pant leg and sewed it to what would become the front of each pillow. Sewed up one end of the pant leg tube, stuffed the pillow in, and used Fabri-tac to close up the other end.

What remained of the pants, the waist to the knees, I cut apart at the seams, removing waistband and zipper. I wanted another pillow similar to the original, with the sherpa edging. I got this adorable fuzzy baby suit at Goodwill for $1.

I kinda hated to do it, but I cut it into strips. I sewed the strips together end to end so I had one super long strip. I folded that in half length-wise, right sides out, and sewed down one side. Now I had one long tube.

I had cut the suede into squares to fit my pillow form (another old pillow I wasn’t using). With the suede right sides together, I sandwiched the sherpa tube between them and sewed around 3 sides of the square, being sure just to catch the edges.Then I turned that right side out, put the pillow form in, and glued the other edge shut. That was a little tricky with the three layers; normally I would hand-sew a pillow closed, but it was too hard with the suede.

Also at Goodwill, I got this cable-knit lambswool sweater in the kids’ section, $1. Again, I had the pillow.

Another perfect fit. I cut the sweater straight across under the armpits, and sewed across that end (wrong side out). Turned it right side out, stuffed the pillow in, and hand sewed the open edge. I'll save the top of the sweater and the toggles for something else.

Four luxurious pillows for $3! An acrylic cable knit pillow at Target is $17.99. Faux suede pillows at Cabela’s (the closest thing I could find) are $24.99.

So, let’s break this down. I had all the other supplies I needed, such as thread and pillow forms, so all I had to buy were the 3 articles of clothing. If you don’t have any old pillows at home that you can use, you have a couple of options.

1) Buy throw pillows at the thrift store to recover. There are ones that aren’t gross! This could cost between $1-$3. If you can find down-filled, that’s even better!

2) Use fiberfill (I use Poly-fil). A big bag costs about$3-4, and should be enough to do several pillows.

You may not be lucky enough to find suede pants for $1, but how about corduroy, linen, or tweed? Find a texture or pattern you like, and use your own creative embellishments, such as buttons.

Sweaters, of course, are abundant. Tip: often, childrens’ clothing costs less than adult. Also look at the household linens section for possible fabrics. How many pillows could be made from a knit throw or a chenille bedspread?

Including the one I didn’t make, this whole couch-full of throw pillows cost me $5!

Thrifty Gifty, a Series

I’m so freakin’ excited because I just made this button myself!! Okay, well I did it a little earlier this morning, and it took quite a while, and I got Craig to do the code for me. BUT, the button itself was all me, with help from this tutorial.

Now, you may ask, what is Thrifty Gifty? It’s an idea that came to me last night. Ready or not, Christmas is coming up, and we all need gifts, for friends, teachers, family, you name it. What we all may not have is lots of money.

With my love of thrift stores, I thought it would be fun to show you gifts you can create for just a few dollars using thrift store finds. And when I say cheap, you know I mean it! I'm thinking $5 and under. I do not have this all planned ahead, so this is going to stretch me. I can’t promise that I’m going to have something for you every single (week)day, but I’ll try to get close.

I will most likely revive some old posts and ideas, and Dollar Tree will be fair game for supplies as well as thrift stores. I’m also going to have a Thrifty Gifty linky party every Friday in December before Christmas, so Dec. 4, 11, and 18. You can join either with your own ideas, or showing something you made using my ideas.

I’d love it if you would help me advertise! The button and code are on my sidebar for you to grab if you'd like. Twitter is good too!

I’m really excited about this and hope you are too! Now, I’m off to create!!

Plate Arrangement, and a Little Business

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At this point they have been appearing only on old posts, so I have set comment moderation for posts older than 14 days. Hopefully that will take care of it. Please don’t hesitate to comment on an older post; I will allow your comment. Unless you are trying to sell you-know-what drugs, of course.

Moving on…I’m finally done hanging my plate arrangement, although looking at this photo, I think it needs a little tweaking on the right side.

I felt I needed some round elements on this wall, rather than artwork or frames, to offset the two big windows on the adjacent wall. The large platter, top middle, is from our set of everyday dishes. The rest came from thrift stores, at a cost of .50-$1.50 each, except the largest round one at $3.

I got these plate hangers at Dollar Tree. I liked that they came in white, and cost less than buying the brass ones, which even at Walmart were $2 and up.

However, they do NOT fit all sizes as claimed. They worked fine on the biggest plates, but even on the smaller platters I had to get Craig to bend it so the hanger wouldn’t stick up over the edge.

They didn’t fit the smaller plates at all. For them, I used Command strips. The smaller ones (on the right) hold up to 1lb and the bigger ones up to 3lbs, so they’re strong enough. I just wouldn’t use them in a high traffic area where someone might bump into the plate, because in that case I think it would be possible to dislodge the Velcro-like fasteners.

We have been in this house for 19 months, and I’m just now starting to get things hung on the walls!

Dollar Store Dishtowel Becomes Pillow

It’s DIY day!

Dollar Tree is in full-swing Christmas, and on a recent trip I found some really cute kitchen towels with pom-pom fringe. There were several different styles and colors. I thought it would be cute to make a little pillow out of one.

I cut the strip of fringe off, leaving the stitching intact.

Then I cut the strip in half. I had considered buying more towels so I would have enough fringe to go all the way around the pillow, but decided that would kind of defeat the purpose of a dollar store craft. I wanted to use just one towel.

I laid everything out and fiddled with it a bit. My original thought was basically just fold the towel in half and put the fringe on either end, but realized that the scale would be off that way.

I ended up cutting it down to 10”x14”.

I pressed under about 1/4” on each long edge.

I cut it in half, and then stitched across the top and bottom, leaving the sides open. I was making this up as I went along, and in retrospect, it was probably unnecessary to cut it in half. I could have just folded it over and stitched one edge.

Next, I turned it right side out and sandwiched a strip of the fringe between the folded edges of one side. Pinning is very helpful here. Then I sewed straight down that edge, being sure to catch the strip of fringe in the seam. Just to be sure, I did a second seam about 1/8” over.

I repeated this on the other side, except this time I left a couple of inches open so I could stuff the pillow with polyfil. Once stuffed, I went back and sewed it closed, and again did a second seam.

For you non-sewers, I don’t see why you couldn’t make this with Fabri-tac and never sew a stitch!

Voila! A cute little decorative pillow! Total cost: $1, plus negligible cost for polyfil. I’ve had a big bag of it for over a year, used it for several different things, and I still have a ton left.

I did not wash/pre-shrink the towel ahead of time, so this is spot clean only. I’ve never had good luck with polyfil going through the washing machine.

You could whip up several of these to give as hostess gifts, or to tuck in a gift basket full of other goodies, or for unexpected drop-in visitors. (They always say that in magazines, but I’ve never been on either end of the drop-in visitor gift-giving, have you?)

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

Joining Cindy's party at cottage instincts.

So, a couple weeks ago I mentioned that I was picking up mirrors at the thrift stores, and Friday I said I was painting. Now I can reveal the finished project.

My goal was an arrangement of mirrors on the long wall above my sectional. I started by laying the mirrors out on the floor and playing with the arrangement.

The 3 square mirrors came from the Dollar Tree about a year ago. I got the stars from The Lakeside Collection, also many months ago. They reminded me of these from Ballard Designs, but at less than one-tenth the cost. The other mirrors were thrift store finds.

Once I settled on an arrangement I liked and painted the frames, I hung them, with some assistance from Craig. I ended up trading one of the above mirrors for another one with beveled edges that I found later.

(Sorry, I know indoor photos at night aren’t the best, but I was anxious to post.)

I also needed some lighting at that end of the sectional, in what is kind of a tight corner. The answer was the cool old thrift store stool I got back in May. I finally brought it in from the garage, almost 6 months later!

Here’s the whole shebang.

I’ve still got work to do in this room, but it’s coming along!

You may notice a common thread here: it took me between 6 to 12 months to decide how to use several of the main elements in this arrangement. Meanwhile, they were in a closet or the garage. But often, that's how I roll. I see something I like at the right price and get it, without knowing for sure how I will use it. Then one day inspiration (I use the term loosely) will strike and it will all come together.

I've read a number of times in magazines that if you get what you like, it will all work together, whether or not the individual items seem congruent. I agree with that: you're home should reflect you and your taste and make you feel comfortable and happy. And sometimes, that's a mixed bag!

The Polls Say…

HomebodyMarket     32 votes

HomebodyEmporium     30 votes

HomebodyMarketplace     26 votes

There were 88 votes total, and HomebodyMarket squeaked out a narrow victory.  Thanks everybody for helping to choose the name for my etsy shop!

Now I just need to get it up and going….

Here’s What I’m Up to Today

Watching the starlings descend on the neighbors. I think it’s kinda cool to see these big flocks of birds fly and swoop in wave-like motions, but I hear they’re a big nuisance in some places.

Playing with plate arrangements to hang.

Painting. I hope to have a a couple of finished projects to show you next week.

Contemplating what I’m going to do with this door I got free from a craigslist ad.

Look how crooked the bottom edge is! (The door is upside down.) That must have been one sloped floor! It’s in pretty bad shape, worse than it looked in the ad, but I drove half an hour out into the country to get it, and it was free, so I took it.

If nothing else, maybe I can do something with the pretty hardware.

I’m also looking forward to pizza-movie night with friends and family!

Have a wonderful weekend!

P.S. There’s still a couple hours left to vote in my poll!