March 3, 2014

Pillow Talk, A Fun Keepsake Project

Martie Handmade Cold Weather, easy sewing project, humor, making a pillow, recycled t-shirt, Sewing 4 Comments

I would like to let you in on my current mood.

There is no school today, on March 3, because of winter weather.  Seriously?  To make it worse, when I look outside I see nothing but wetness…there is no snow, but there is ice.  Again.

We have been busy around here, but it has been a lot of fun.  Pooh did great in Hunter’s Safety, and her last day was actually Friday.  Coach was mistaken in thinking they would wrap up on Saturday, so I posted false information.  Do you like how I blamed that on him, there?  Anyway, Pooh aced her test, and missed all of her clay pigeons.

Most importantly, she learned a lot, and had a great time!  One of the game wardens who helps teach the class is a friend of my brother’s, and was a friend of Papa’s also.  He brought a muzzle loader, a powder horn, and some other items that Papa had made  to the class one night when they were demonstrating the different types of weapons used while hunting.  That really got away with Pooh, to see her Papa’s handmade things on display to a group of her peers.  She was so proud.

So, it’s March! I can hardly contain my excitement, because March means spring is really soon, and I am so ready for longer days, more sunshine, and some outdoor projects. I have so many ideas in my mind, and so does Coach, that we just can’t implement until the weather gets better. I haven’t even had a day that was nice enough outside to do some spray painting, because all of the pretty days I have spent in the salon.  Of course, I am off today, and of course, it’s 25 degrees and icy.  Ew.  Someday, the stars will align and I will get a pretty day off, and be able to start churning some dirt!

I did have an  interesting indoor project, though. I have a client whose 13-year-old son (who is also a client, and has been since he was pretty small) had outgrown a bunch of his t-shirts, and there was one in particular that he just didn’t want to give up. The family had taken a cruise some years back, and he drew their cruise ship on a t-shirt during an art activity while sailing. My client, we’ll call her Twila, asked if I had any ideas about something I could make with it. I immediately suggested a pillow, and she loved the idea. It’s something her son, Jefferson, can keep forever, and maybe even hand down to his own son someday.

This is actually the perfect project to share on this nasty day…we can dream of a time when we, too, can sail the vast blue oceans  and feel the white sand between our toes.

This was a really simple project, and all the materials came from Jefferson’s outgrown clothes, except for the pillow stuffing, which I had an abundance of. Twila even brought another shirt by the next day that was a coordinating blue, and was really soft.

I just cut both shirts to the same-size rectangle, and sewed the pieces together inside out, leaving a hole at the bottom just large enough to turn it back right. I used a zig-zag stitch because jersey knit needs the extra security. After turning it right-side-out, I stitched another zig-zag seam all the way around, creating a ¼” border on the pillow. Tigger stuffed it for me, and I closed it up carefully on the sewing machine. Isn’t it cute?

Twila loved it, and I think Jefferson did, too. If not, maybe he will someday!

I have made several neat things out of hold t-shirts, and I have shared some on the blog in the past.  I love the way t-shirts feel, and I probably wear them more than any other kind of shirt.  I have had several over the years that I just can’t part with, no matter how ratty they start to look.  When the holes get too big to wear the shirt in public, I hang around the house in them until they just turn into rags.  I have several that I should make more pillows with…and a few that would probably fall to shreds if I tried to sew them.  I get this tendency from Madre…she had a Willie Nelson t-shirt when I was a kid that she more than got her money’s worth out of.  Willie’s face faded more and more each time she washed it, until  he just disappeared altogether.  She kept wearing it, though, and one day, when she went to remove a load of clothes from the dryer, what was left of that red t-shirt was hanging out in the lint trap.  She was forced to retire it (throw away the red lint), and it was a sad, sad day.  For her, anyway.

Some things are just too precious to give away or throw away, so why not make something else out of it? Y’all know that is my motto, right?    Just don’t wait until it’s too late…

Local peeps, stay warms.  Distant peeps, you also stay warm.  Florida peeps, you disgust me (nah, I’m just jealous).

Happy Monday!!