Looking for an inexpensive yet environmentally friendly Christmas present? Ready Made magazine just ran this delightful little article on how to recycle your old t-shirts that you love, but maybe don’t wear so much anymore, and make them into pillows.
The article in Ready Made specifically talks about concert t-shirts, which are obviously cool, but really you can revive any shirt that is languishing in the back of your drawer this way. The thing about concert tees is that they’re likely to have cool prints on them. Plus, if you did several concert tees, then you’d have a nice decorating theme.
However, I just did a pillow out of a Portland, OR, t-shirt I had laying around, and it looks great. So great that my husband went on an old t-shirt bender and has now presented me with every t-shirt he hoarded from high school with birthday pillow requests. Added benefit: you can get your man to purge his closet of crappy old shirts. Nice.
There’s a lot of variety on how you can do this–I got a cute, contrasting fabric that matched the t-shirt to use for the back of the Portland pillow–but the back of the t-shirt itself would do, too. Guys tees are probably slightly better for this–the bigger the shirt, the more fabric you have to work with.
But the best part is that it’s super fast and easy, super cheap, you’re recycling, getting new life out of something you like, and will seem very impressive to anyone who gets it as a present. I mean, a home-made hipster pillow? That’s fancy!
For Ready Made‘s pillow-making instructions, click here.
