I’ve been trying to expand my sewing skills slowly but surely, one project at a time. The project I’ve been chipping away at for the past few weeks is this throw pillow, made from a t-shirt I bought on vacation back in 2010.
(Yes, this project should have only taken me an afternoon or an evening. I have to carve out an hour here and fifteen minutes there, though, on top of having to order various notions and supplies online.)
I knew I wanted a thicker piping on this pillow than normally comes prepackaged, so I bought some 3/8” cording and made my own for the first time. It was slightly time-consuming this first time, but not difficult.
I also wanted to try installing a zipper in this pillow, since I’ve already made three envelope pillow covers. I looked at several videos and tutorials and finally was able to envision the 3D-ness that this required. Of course, the mega-pack of zippers I bought for cheap online turned out to be kind of, well, cheap, but they’ll be good for things that don’t need zipped often (like pillows).
My biggest zipper challenge, though, was related to the size of the pillowcase. Since I made the pillow cover from an existing t-shirt, and I wanted to keep the tee as a whole piece instead of piecing additional fabric to it, I was stuck with a 18.5” width and a supply of 20-inch zippers. In retrospect, I should have whip-stitched a new stop on the bottom of the zipper and called it good… but I was going to try to stuff a 20-inch pillow into this cover, so I tried to sew the zipper in around the corner curves. Of course, with me being a total zipper newb, that didn’t work out quite as planned. I’m probably the only one who will notice that the bottom corners of the pillow are tucked into a couple of unsewn portions of the seam. Honestly, I’m chalking it up to yet another learning experience. I’m not even mad.
Overall, I’m really pleased with how it came out! The formerly limp throw pillow is now pleasantly firm, thanks to me not having as much fabric to work with as I’d originally planned. I also love the look of the contrast piping pulled from the design on the shirt — it’s almost a mid-century retro kind of feel. (The pillow back is the same fabric as the piping.)
I think my next travel-themed throw pillow cover will be of my Hawaii shirt from 2008. With a shorter zipper.