1.27.2012

Trash to Treasure


A moth-eaten sweater and the cut off bits of hemmed sweatpants come back to life as this handsome and soft upcycled pillow for my bed.



Oh dear... Lots of moth holes

My friend asked me if I could fix the moth holes in her soft lambswool sweater.  I took a look, but the moths had been way too busy and there were holes all over the front.  She snatched it out of my hands and threw it into the trash.  “WAIT!!!!” I exclaimed.  I’ll make something with it.  It has been sitting in my craft room for a while now but when I was hemming several pairs of black and gray sweatpants, my ideas developed.  Who knew the cut off pieces of sweatpants could be so cute!

Here’s what I did:
Cut various circles from the sweatcloth.
Pair them up, mixing the color combinations.
Fringe the edges about 1/4” – 1/2”.
Starting in the center, machine stitch a spiral out to the edge of the fringe.

The sleeves of the sweater were untouched by the moths so I cut them off the body of the sweater and opened up the fabric.  I laid it out, matching the sleeves and cut out the largest square(s) I could create from the pieces.

I rearranged the circles until I was happy with the look and pinned them on the top of the pillow piece. 

The real fun began when I sorted through my button collection and selected a combination of vintage favorites and some newer ones to finish the center of each circle.

Sew the circle to the sweater fabric as you sew on each button.  (If your circles are on the large side, you might want to stitch it down a bit toward the edges so it won’t curl too much.)

Now finish your pillow by placing wrong sides together and stitching around three sides.  Take care not to catch your circles in your stitches.

Turn the pillow, stuff with a pillow form or Polyfill and hand stitch the opening to finish off your new Trash to Treasure creation!