Monday, June 3, 2013

Upcycled Linen Decorator Pillows

A while back at the local thrift shop I found a dress that was destined for parts unknown. The dress wasn't my style but it was made of linen and had wonderful machine embroidery on it. I snatched up the dress thinking there was plenty of material in it to make something....but not sure what.
My recent shoulder surgery gave me a few ideas.....and a little bit of time to work on them. I took a good look at the dress and decided on pillows. At first I thought big square pillows would be good (and easy, too, the inserts would be pre made) but since I like a challenge, and didn't really want to fool with buttons, I decided to make two small pillows that would be a good size for travel, or support my poor, miserable arm when I try to sleep. (Forgive my whining. Sorry).
Here are some pictures of the fabric I used.
 Each side of the skirt had different embroidered flowers, too pretty to throw away.
I like the natural color of the linen, too. 

I made the pillow cases envelope fashion, no zipper. I had to make the pillow inserts to fit the pillows. 

Here are the finished pillows. One is a little longer than the other but .......

Not too hard to make. Another unfinished object (UFO) out of the pile, and I sleep better with the little pillow to help support my poor shoulder (sorry, whining again). 
I still have quite a bit of fabric left. It was a large dress. I thought a pincushion or two might be nice. Not sure what else but that's the fun of recycling/upcycling.