From Discount to Decor!

I have about 43 decorative pillows in my home. Well, maybe not THAT many! But lately, I haven't felt too fond of the ones I DO have. They need a refreshing - new shapes, new colours, new prints. I think little changes like this will be perfect for the New Year.

So today I began with the pillows on the master bedroom bed. I wanted something cozy ( and cheap!), so after perusing Pinterest, I hit the second hand store and bought these:A couple of woolly Irish Knit sweaters from the ladies department. I had come on the right day, too, because everything was an additional 50% off!
So I actually only paid half of this:
Not bad, eh? And because I was covering pillows I already had, this was my only cost!

Shopping done, ( I got some other really great second hand bargains - but I'll share those in another post!) now the pinning, cutting and stitching part of the project.

First I turned the sweater inside out and placed my pillow form inside. This allows me to find out exactly how much sweater to cut-off.
I then pinned the sweater snuggly around the pillow form. I made sure the cable designs were straight and balanced equally on the pillow shape. My pillow form fit perfectly into the sweater, right up to the turtleneck. I pinned across the lower-neckline of the sweater.
I am glad I had some sharp scissors for the next part. After removing the pillow form, I cut a 1/2 inch seam allowance around the pinned circumference.
Immediately my sweater began unravelling, so headed to the sewing machine and quickly zig-zag stitched around the whole edge. After, using the pins as a guide, I switched to a straight stitch and sewed around 3 of the 4 sides of the pillow cover. I left the bottom open so that I could slip my pillow form back into the cover. Then with matching thread, I hand-stitched the bottom of the pillow closed.
Ta-da!! Don't they look great? And I managed to sew 2 sweater pillows in less than an hour for a grand total of $6.00!!Ah the cozi-ness of it all - sweater pillows, the handmade cream-coloured quilt we received as a wedding -present from my aunt and the patchwork quilt I made for university dorm-room 16 years ago. Oooh -I could snuggle into that bed right now!
Our bedroom is slowly coming together - new wallpaper, new headboard, new pillows, and the new hot-water bottle and cover my hubby gave me for Christmas. Picture perfect!

Thanks for visiting! Please leave a comment - I love reading them all! And please- BECOME a FOLLOWER!