Ruffled Pillow- tutorial

I have been eyeing girly, frilly pillows for quite some time. I can imagine getting a great neutral slipcover for Chris' old futon...

 blue plaid. Hm.

and getting a few cute pillows. However, pillows are ridiculously expensive. It's a pillow, people. I'm not shelling out 30 bucks for a pillow.

I was inspired by this pillow that I saw at Pier 1. However, I didn't buy it because of the price, and also because the material was not very snuggle-able. I hate throw pillows that are so hard or scratchy that you can't even rest your head on them, or that make your cheek sweat if you use it. Or that you can't wash. Must be functional as well as pretty.

Psh, I can make my own! And I did. Sort of.

I made it out of an XL women's tshirt that I found at Walmart. Men's tshirts did not come in the color that I wanted, and it was the biggest I could find. And it was 5 bucks. Sweeeet.

Here's how you make it. (Please excuse my craptastic pictures. I think my camera has been dropped too many times.)

Trace a 12.5 x 8 inch rectangle with the longer edge on the bottom of the tshirt. This saves you from making an extra hem later. Cut it out, and trim off the side seam. You will have two pieces of fabric 12.5 x 8, which will form the envelope back of the pillow case.

Then, measure another rectangle, 6.5 x 12.5  inches. The 6.5 will be on the bottom, 12.5 on the side seam.

Don't trim off the side seam. Instead fold it out. You will have a square that will be the base for the ruffles.

Start cutting long strips of fabric using the rest of the t-shirt.

Make the ruffles by setting the longest stitch on your machine, and using the highest tension. As you sew down the middle of the strip, it will automatically create ruffles. It's so fun, I could make ruffles all day. Seriously.

Place a ruffle covering the seam in the middle of the base piece.

Pin ruffles next to each other until the whole pillow is covered. Sew them on using a regular stitch down the middle, right on top of the other stitch.

Once they are sewed on, sew on the back. With the right sides facing each other, pin each smaller piece of fabric in such a way that they overlap a few inches in the middle. (Place the edge with the original tshirt bottom hem towards the middle, and pin the raw edges.)

Sew around the edges, turn right-side out, and insert a pillow form. Tada!