Button Down Rehab Day 10: The Tuxedo Pillow

I hope you've enjoyed all the posts from the Button Down Rehab series as much as I have, but unfortunately, today's project is the last one in the series.

But don't be sad, let's make a pillow instead (and maybe next Monday's giveaway will also help a little :)! 

The last Button Down Rehab project comes to you courtesy of an Express shirt I've had since high school.

I've worn the crap out of this shirt since I first bought it. I remember thinking how cool and cute I looked in it when I bought it. Seriously? Calm down 16-year-old me. Thankfully my sense of style has evolved since then. 

In recent years said shirt has become a little too...um...snug...thanks to a couple children who will remain nameless *cough cough*. Here's the original shirt (and my toes):

Pretty blah right?

My husband actually gave me the idea to make a pillow out of it. He has been nagging...I mean gently reminding... me to make him a pillow for our computer chair, which is actually one of our breakfast table chairs. We moved the computer from the upstairs to the kitchen so it'd be easier to use the computer and keep an eye on the kids at the same time. As much as I love hearing "I'm the Map, I'm the Map" 30 times in 1 episode, I need something to distract me.

The old computer chair became my new comfy craft chair upstairs, which left us to use one of the kitchen chairs - which is not so comfy. So I took my old button down and transformed it into the Tuxedo Pillow - so named because of the bow shape and the ruffles, which reminds me of an old school tuxedo...in case you were wondering. 

Supplies:

• Button down shirt
• Pillow stuffing
• Seam ripper
• Rotary cutter and cutting mat
• Sewing machine and thread
• Iron and ironing board
• Zipper foot

Step 1: Cut your pillow shape.

Make sure your shirt is buttoned. Using your cutting board and mat, trim your shirt to the size you want, leaving some extra for seam allowance. Mine was about 25 inches long and 24 inches wide. You'll notice my shirt has a curve to it on both sides, which is what gives the shirt it's bow shape. Mine was already like this due to a few darts in the side, but if your shirt isn't already curvy, you can cut a slight curve in the sides a bit. Don't go overboard on the curvy-ness though or you'll end up with a very funky looking pillow.

You want the top and bottom to be straight. Since the bottom of my shirt had a curve to it, I trimmed it straight across with my rotary cutter

Only the top and bottom are open on my piece since I didn't need to trim the sides. If your sides are open, place your fabric pieces right side together, pin, and sew down both sides then turn right side out.

You should now have a nice little curvy rectangle that will be your pillow form.

Step 2: Cut out the fabric for your ruffles.

Now you want to cut enough fabric for your 2 ruffles. The length of your ruffle is up to you. I made my ruffles almost as long as my pillow because that's all I had to work with but the longer, the better. Measure the length from the top to the bottom of your pillow form and double it to get a decent ruffle that spans the entire length of your pillow. The width should be about 2 1/2 inches per ruffle. You will need 2 pieces in this length and width.

Since my shirt is a short sleeve shirt, the longest piece of fabric that would work for me came from the back of my shirt right below the collar. If you have a long sleeve shirt, you could use one of your sleeves.

I cut out my rectangle and then trimmed it to make sure it was straight on all sides. Then, I cut my rectangle in half to create my two 2 1/2 inch rectangles (1 for each ruffle).

Here are my 2 (pre-ruffled) pieces of fabric!

Now take your iron and, with your pieces right side down, iron 1/4 inch on each side of your ruffle pieces. Using a straight stitch, sew both short sides and one long side on each ruffle.

Step 3: Gather and attach your ruffles.

To make your actual ruffle, set your sewing machine length and width to the highest numbers. Without backstitching, sew across the 1 long side you left unsewn on each of your ruffle pieces, leaving long tails at each end when you cut your thread. Now, tie a knot on one end with your 2 string tails. On the other end, gently tug one string and push the fabric toward the other end, making it ruffle up like a curtain on a rod. When you've reached your desired ruffle length, tie a knot in your threads and cut the excess.

Now to attach your ruffles, you'll need to use your seam ripper to rip the seams on the button closure that is on the front piece of your pillow form.

First, find the side with the button holes. Using your seam ripper, rip the stitches down the side of your button closure to open it up.

See how my seam is now open from the side to the button holes? Tuck one of your ruffle pieces into that side seam and pin all the way down. Now sewing on top of where the original stitches were, sew all the way from the top of your pillow to the bottom to attach your ruffle.

The other side is easy because there aren't any stitches to pull. Just tuck your other ruffle underneath the flap as close to the buttons as you can get. Using your zipper foot, stitch from the top of the shirt to the bottom to attach your second ruffle.

The zipper foot is essential because you have to sew very close to the buttons on your shirt.

You should now have both ruffles attached, and your pillow should look like the picture below.

Step 4: Stitch closed and stuff your pillow.

Turn your pillow form inside out so that the right sides are together. Pin the raw edges together on the top and bottom, leaving a 4 inch opening on the bottom for turning.

Stitch straight across your top and bottom to close, stopping where you left your opening to turn. Turn your pillow inside out. Use a chopstick or knitting needle to push out your corners.

Now, stuff your pillow to the desired volume, and hand stitch the opening closed.

Now decorate with your new pillow!

See, there are some good things that come out of high school ;)

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Thank you so much for joining me for the Button Down Rehab series!! Special thanks to Krista, Shannon, Gwen, and Rebecca who guest posted and shared their awesome projects.

I hope you've had just as much fun as I have refashioning and upcycling your old button down shirts. To say thank you to all of my blog friends, new and old, I hope you'll come back Monday and enter my giveaway to win some great stuff!

Check out all of the projects in the BDR series:

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Linking up!

Show and Tell Wednesday at Blue Cricket Design

Button Down Rehab Day 9: Bib Dress

Today's BDR guest poster is Rebecca from Searching Out Simple.

Rebecca always makes adorable clothes for her son and little girls, so I knew she would come up with something awesome to share. ______________________

Hi! I'm Rebecca from Searching Out Simple. I have three kids, two dogs, an Army husband and a to-do list that will keep me busy for years if I ever get it all done. I love creating things for my home and family as well as gift giving. If I'm sewing or Mod-Podging things together you know there is a pile of laundry on the bed and stack of dishes in the sink. But a girl's gotta have priorities right? Right. ;)

I was so excited about Jen's BDR series and flattered that she asked me to guest post. My dress is somewhat inspired by a drop waist dress I saw at the store and thought "hey, I could make that for less than $5". I love a challenge. I hope my tutorial inspires even the beginning seamstress, that with enough determination {and maybe a few choice words} you can see a vision come to life and learn some lessons along the way.

*Disclaimer* I am still fairly new at making clothing. I have a lot to learn about clothing construction and this did not turn out to be a drop waist dress.

Supplies

* button down shirt {I used a short sleeve my husband didn't want}

* coordinating thread

* white or coordinating color cotton {1/4 should be enough}

* extra buttons {optional}

Step 1

First I put my trusty seam ripper to work and removed the sleeves, collar and pocket from the shirt. Set those pieces aside, you'll use some later. Fold what's left of the shirt in half and place a dress that fits on top, also folded in half. Trace around the dress leaving room for seam allowance. I believe most people use 5/8" seam allowance.

Step 2

Put right sides of dress together {I didn't cut the top of the sleeve so I just folded the dress in half at the shoulder with right sides facing). Fold the bottom of dress 1/4" two times to create new hem, press, pin and sew. {Ignore the horizontal stripe pieces shown here, this was an idea that didn't work out}. Do the same thing on the sleeves to hem. Then sew from the edge of sleeve to the bottom of dress on both sides.

Step 3

To create the bib I referred to this tutorial. Instead of one piece of white cotton I had two pieces so it could still button up to put on and take off. My pieces were 8"x12" with two inches for the button up center. I accidentally sewed my button hole to the inside piece instead of the outer piece so this dress buttons backwards on the top and I sewed a white ruffle to the top. As you can see, I wasn't very careful while cutting the bib shape, I thought I could cut it folded in half but it didn't come out evenly. Definitely trace a round object and cut along your line. I attached the bib to the button down like sewing an applique, next time I'd like to try a cleaner method.

The second picture shows a lesson learned. If you're sewing past your bedtime, triple check what you're doing before cutting fabric. I accidentally cut the back of the shirt while cutting the front for the bib. I pieced it back together and later sewed the tag that was on the inside to the outside, I thought it was something unexpected.

Step 4

Next came the ruffle at the bottom. I used two pieces of white cotton measuring 2" x twice the width of the dress bottom. I pressed & sewed a 1/4" hem on both sides of the strips then created the ruffle by sewing down the middle of each strip with my tension at the tightest setting and stitch length at the longest. Next, pin the first ruffle strip starting at one side of the front with the bottom of the ruffle lining up with the hem. Continue pinning the second ruffle overlapping slightly in the back and finishing up at the other side of the front. 

Step 5

Add a pocket! That pocket you set to the side before can be made new again. I made a gathered pocket method I've used before using this tutorial and put a piece of the collar along the top and some extra ruffle strip.

Step 6

The dress was fine without a collar but seemed a little unfinished. So I hemmed the rest of the old collar and sewed it to the inside of the neckline with a zig zag stitch, about 1/4" overlapping.

Step 7

I don't have pictures showing this step but I replaced all of the original buttons on this shirt. They were originally a shiny off white. My daughter chose tan for the buttons on the stripes, blue for the white {backwards} and I put a brown one on the pocket.

And there you have it!

A button down turned dress with a crooked bib, backward buttons, ruffle trim, functioning pocket and little collar. I would still like to add a little button and finishing technique that Jen shared on day 4 of BDR to the sleeves and maybe a little elastic in the back to hold it's shape better but those will have to wait.

I really do love how this dress turned out, though during the process it was one of those things that makes me want to poke myself with a needle in the eye. If you make a dress using this tutorial I'd love to see the finished product! Thank you for having me Jen!

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Thanks, Rebecca!

I've seen so many cute bib shirts and dresses out there, this is definitely something I'll have to try for my daughter. If you haven't already, make sure to check out Rebecca's site, Searching Out Simple, and share some love.

 

Tomorrow will be the final post in the Button Down Rehab series. I kind of can't believe it, my life has been so full of button down shirts for the past month! I hope you'll drop by for the final post, it's a good one!

Click on the picture below to see the BDR projects you may have missed: