Free Craft Friday -- Keepsake Pillow

My husband and I first met in person on August 14, 2006.  He work a t-shirt from his favorite band at the time (Lagwagon) and I wore a black shirt with these camoflauge cargo shorts.  We had an amazing first date.  He took me to a restaurant that his family visited every Labor Day weekend.  I joked it was a dive as it was the first time I'd eaten there although I lived much closer to it than he.  We laughed over "stupid ash chicken" they had burnt my orange chicken and went on to enjoy the movie Goonies at the movies in the park in Ogden.  A little over a year later we were married in October 2007.  The t-shirt and shorts were still frequently worn and finally this summer (2012) they both had enough.  His t-shirt had developed holes at the seams and armpits and my shorts finally split down the inseam.  I didn't really want to get rid of either item.  So I asked my husband if he would mind if I turn his favorite t-shirt into a keepsake of our first date.  He agreed and this totally awesome pillow was born.

Keepsake Pillow

Materials:
-significant clothing from dates, special occassions, etc.
-scissors
-pins
-thread and need or sewing machine

Step 1.  Determine the size of pillow you wish to make.  Make sure you have enough material to cover this size.  You could a pillow form but I decided to just use some extra batting/stuffing I had left over from another project.

Step 2.  Piece your project together.  For me this meant measuring my husbands t-shirt to include the image as well as some material for bordering.  I was then able to piece together a back on the pillow with my shorts.  I cut them apart at the seams and tried to use the least worn pieces for the pillow.  I then pinned the back together and sewed this first (really a mesh of different sizes and shapes).  I pieced the back together making sure that it would oversize the t-shirt piece (size of pillow).

Step 3.  Trim down both from and back pieces of material to be the same size.  In my case I trimmed the shorts to be the same size as the t-shirt piece.  I laid out the t-shirt on top of my sewn shorts and then trimmed off the excess.

Step 4.  Pin both pieces with right sides together and sew along the outter edge with a 1/2" seam.  Leave a hole approximately 2 to 3" in order to stuff the pillow.  If you use a pillow form this "hole" will need to large enough to put your pillow in.

Step 5.  Stuff your pillow.  To finish use needle and thread to sew up the opening in the pillow with an invisible stitch.

*I'm sure there are other ways to form a pillow with remnant clothing, etc.  I simply went with the simplest of ways and one that I knew I would have enough material for.   And yes the pictures are crap on this one...serves me right for using my less than desirable camera.