Put your head on my shoulder

Another clever person may have discovered how to do this also, but I've been making pillows out of shirts lately. Actually, a lot of what I sew is made from repurposed thrifted clothing. But I figured out that if I make the back of the pillow out of a button-down, I don't have to put in a zipper. And this has lead me in other directions creatively. Now sometimes the shirt is on the front and is the focal point of the work, with extra decorative stitching added to emphasize design elements of the poor shirts no one wants to wear anymore.
This is one of my favorites. I call it "Fire and Water" because of the water-oriented wildlife and the tribal flames on the back. Note also the preppy vibe to the Canada geese (a linen dish towel) and trout (a short-sleeved men's button-down. What sort of Grandpa fisherman is cute/dorky enough to wear that?!) versus the rad early-adolescent-of-the-early-'00s (how do we say that?). Just the kind of contrast I like to have fun playin' around with. I want some art center to have an exhibition with Fire and Water as the theme so I can enter it. Let me know if you hear of any.


If there is a shirt used for the front and the back of the same piece, I'm calling them Alter-Ego Pillows(tm) and, again, having fun with that ol' contrast and pairing two shirts with incongruous personalities.

Here are a couple that started with western type shirts with pearl snaps and embroidery. They get alternately nerdy or preppy on the back. See the post on Our First Press for a different view of these two.


Okay, speaking of adolescence, can we go back to the 1970's now, or at least to Wayne's World?
I got these two excellent Levi's plaid shirts at a local church basement thrift shop. I had already acquired this mint-condition drapery fabric, the color and era of which coordinate beautifully.
These would satisfy someones nostalgia so well, and would be great in a basement/garage hang-out room/music space. Again, refer to Wayne's World or my friend Kitt Cox's garage. Of course, they would be great anywhere you want to prop yourself up on them.

















Can you believe these orange flowers? These pillows are 16" square, so those flowers are pretty big. It was a dress. I got it at my local seasonal church rummage sale. Who wore that? is what I want to know.

That's all for the pillow post for now. I may add more later. I have some higher end pillows with the kittens and koi fabric from Japan appliqued on the front. I should get photos of those up.

Availability: Revolution has several pillows of different types for sale and I will be bringing them to upcoming craft-fair-type venues starting in May. Actually, they are available directly from me now, so be in touch if you are at all interested. I'm going to have an exhibit at the Blake Memorial Library in East Corinth starting March 20 and featuring pillows so please stop by to see them in all their three dimensional colorfullness. More on that event another post.