Stuffed

I'm a big fan of spicing up rooms with accessories - throw blankets, vases, coffee table books, and - my holy grail - pillows! Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those "50 throw pillows on a bed so it takes an hour to clear them off" kind of girls, but I appreciate a strategically placed pillow here and there. With our additional square footage and furniture, however, I've been feeling very pillow deficient lately. And as much as I love a flea market or thrift store for knick knacks, I'm not comfortable with acquiring used upholstered items there - who knows what sort of miscroscopic germs or critters are lurking where I can't see or clean them (especially with a bedbug infestation sweeping the nation.)  So, I added throw pillows and inserts to my neverending list of house "wants" and moved on.

Then the other night while cleaning out my closet, I pulled out a couple of old sweaters that would normally have made their way to the Goodwill pile, and had an idea. Why not use the knits to make myself some new pillows and pillow covers? So I started experimenting with this Old Navy gem from way back:

After flip flopping it around inside out and upside down, I realized that the best way to do this was to make the sweater neck the future pillow opening, that way I could simply slip the pillow insert in there and not worry about how to close it off.  A few stitches and snips later, I had a new pillow! It's certainly not my best work, but not bad for a first attempt.