Up-cycled Hawaiian Shirt Pillow Tutorial

My husbands favorite shirt was well past its prime when I noticed a fatal armpit hole.  For our anniversary I transformed his tattered Hawaiian shirt into 2 fabulous pillows that he absolutely loves!  

To make two envelope style pillows you will need:

1 button down shirt 

1 yard matching fabric  

1 yard interfacing

Damp Cloth 

Matching thread

Pins

Scissors

Iron & Board

Sewing Machine

You can either buy 2 pillow inserts or make your own using:

1 1/2 yard fabric

1 bag stuffing (more or less depending on the size of your pillows)

Wash and iron your shirt as well as the material you intend to use for the back of the pillow.  Shirts with cool buttons make for a very fun pillow!  

The size of your shirt will determine the size of your pillows- cut a large square from the front and back of the shirt.  The finished pillow will be about one inch smaller than the square you cut out.  

Place your shirt squares on your interfacing and cut matching squares from the interfacing.  

Stack your Hawaiian shirt square good side down on the ironing board.  Then put the interfacing scratchy side down touching the wrong side of your shirt fabric.  

Place a damp cloth on top of the interfacing and follow the ironing directions on the interfacing package or label.  

Take out your material for the pillow backs.  These pillows will have an envelope style back so you can remove the insert and wash the pillow cases.  

To make the envelope cover you will use the shirt square for the front and two pieces of contrast fabric for each back.  Measure your shirt square to find the dimensions for your back pieces.  Use the same width as your shirt square for the back pieces, but subtract a few inches in length.  

For my 15"x15" pillows, I used back pieces that measured 15"x12" and 15"x9".  Feel free to use one length for each, roughly 70% of the length of the shirt piece.  For example, if your pillow is 12" inches in length, use 8.5" as your back lengths.  

Pin and hem one width side of each of the four back pieces.  

Pin the good side of your shirt square to the good side of your back pieces, allowing the back pieces to overlap about 2 inches.  Sew all 4 sides, carefully snip the corners, and turn the envelope right side out.  

Now to make the pillow inserts.

Take out your material and cut 4 squares to the same dimensions as the shirt square.
Pin the edges of 2 squares together and sew 3 sides closed.
Then carefully snip the edges, and turn the pillow cases inside out.
Stuff each pillow with stuffing.  

Fold the fabric inside, pin the edges, and sew it shut.  

Finally, insert your pillow into its lovely case and marvel at your handiwork.

Have fun and post some pictures of your up-cycled pillows!