How to Make Homemade Pillows With Button Closures

You can make a button-close pillow from a man's shirt.

You can make cute and contemporary homemade pillows from recycled button-down shirts of almost any fabric. With a careful cutting method, your pillows are both composed of and decorated by the shirt’s buttons, buttonholes and tailored front opening. In addition to adding a decorative element to the pillows, the buttons and buttonholes make removal of the pillow insert uncomplicated for laundering. Inexpensive, used button-down shirts in good condition can be found at thrift shops.

Things You'll Need

• Craft paper
• Ruler
• Scissors
• Straight pins
• Recycled button-down shirt, size large
• Sewing machine
• 14-inch square pillow form

Instructions

1. Draw a 14-inch square on the craft paper with a pencil, using the ruler, for a template. Cut out the template with the scissors.

2. Lay the buttoned shirt on a flat surface, like a table. Place the template over the shirt, positioning the template over the buttons. Pin the template to the shirt front and back with the straight pins. Cut out the front and back shirt fabric, adding 1/4 inch past the template edge.

3. Place the shirt front square over the shirt back square, right sides of the fabric facing each other. Pin the edges together with the straight pin. Sew a straight seam along all four sides of the pillow, 1/4 inch from the edge, with the sewing machine.

4. Unbutton the buttons and turn the pillow to the right side. Insert the 14-inch pillow form and button up the buttons.

References

• Sewing for Dummies; Jan Saunders Maresh
• Sew Creative Gifts Under $10; Vicki Blizzard