HOW TO dress shirt pillow sham in 6 easy steps

Posted by Bao   -   Monday, October 17th, 2011   -   DIY projects

 

Here's my first video tutorial! In it I show you a quick and super easy way to give your well-loved button-up shirt a second life as a comfy throw pillow. I hope you like it. Now go make some throw pillows!

 

Gather your materials

  1. dress shirt
  2. throw pillow (It should be slightly smaller than your shirt.)
  3. scissors
  4. pencil or chalk
  5. pins
  6. sewing machine or sewing needle (and thread of course!)

 

6 easy steps

  1. Button up shirt around your pillow
  2. Position your pillow on the shirt
  3. Mark up your shirt
  4. Pin your shirt and cut out the sham
  5. Sew all the open edges
  6. Finally, unpin, unbutton, stuff the sham, and rebutton the sham

 

Useful tips

  • You can also use women's blouses. Try large, bright prints and different fabrics that can complement your specific decor.
  • Bey, an artist from Barcelona, says the button side of the pillow may be a little uncomfortable, but all you have to do is turn the pillow over. The buttons make it easy to change the cover whenever you want.

pillow made with a woman silk blouse

A gingham shirt pillow made by Bey includes a charming patch. Photography via El Diario de Bey

 

If you saw me one The Nate Berkus Show and you're wondering how to make the patterns, sit tight. I'll be posting a tutorial on design techniques you can use to come up with original patterns of your own, and show you how to render them on the pillows.

Check back for the tutorial. Subscribe to the Relevé Design blog RSS feed or follow me on Twitter,  Facebook, or Pinterest so you don’t miss the posts.

 

I snuggled two of my pillows together on the couch next to my Sefte throw.

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54 Responses to “HOW TO dress shirt pillow sham in 6 easy steps”

  1. Vicki Luu 08. Dec, 2011 at 5:31 pm #

    You are so happy when you cut!
    so cute!!!
    love it!

    • baokhangluu 08. Dec, 2011 at 7:44 pm #

      I was happy!

      I only had that one shirt to cut. There was no scene cut so I had to deliver the lines perfectly. Then I had to decide in my head if my delivery was good enough before I actually cut the shirt. It took like 500 takes!

  2. Peg Ashman 25. Jan, 2012 at 11:39 am #

    Congratulations on such an innovative idea. I am truly impressed by your unique skill set of having brilliant ideas and the ability to articulate those so completely so that we can get to the happy task of imitating your project. Truly appreciated.

    • Bao 25. Jan, 2012 at 11:20 pm #

      Thanks, Peg! I’m so glad I can share my ideas with you!

  3. Jenn 08. Mar, 2012 at 8:36 am #

    I love this! Thank you for the great idea, and tutorial 🙂 I will have to try this soon.

    • Bao 08. Mar, 2012 at 11:58 pm #

      Yay! Thanks, Jenn! I’m so glad you like it! Tell me how it goes! And thanks for visiting me and for writing too! XO 🙂

  4. Kirstin Deyoung 26. Apr, 2012 at 5:08 pm #

    Thank you for this wonderful idea. I made each one of my neices a pillow from my brother’s shirts. We recently loss him and the pillows are a great comfort to each child when they need a “hug” from their Dad.

    Your design idea is a pretty decor idea, but it’s a beautiful memory keeper too.

    • Bao 28. Apr, 2012 at 2:10 am #

      Hi Kirstin. Thank you for writing in. It’s so wonderful you were able to make such a thoughtful and meaningful gift. It’s truly touching. XOs to you and yours.

  5. Pip 08. May, 2012 at 3:41 am #

    Hah! I make these too! They are in my book Sew La Tea Do! I even made them on TV just like you! Snap! Great minds! We are twins! I like!
    http://www.roadahead.com.au/homegarden/shirt-front-cushion-covers/
    x

    • Bao 11. May, 2012 at 10:30 pm #

      That’s wonderful! and CONGRATS on your book, Pip! I can’t wait to check it out. 😀

  6. Tehila 28. May, 2012 at 7:00 am #

    wow! I am so going to have a go at this. I just gave 5 bag fulls of my husbands’ old shirts to charity, now I have to try and repurpose some more…Thanks so much for sharing your great ideas.

    • Bao 28. May, 2012 at 11:27 pm #

      Good for you! It’s always better to give to charity first. You help out a good cause, and you get a tax write off. I’m so glad you like the project. I hope you have fun with it when you get some more shirts! Thanks for visiting, watching the tutorial, and writing, Tehila!

  7. Linda 13. Jun, 2012 at 10:22 am #

    great idea, thank you so much for sharing. Going to try this.

    • Bao 13. Jun, 2012 at 1:57 pm #

      I’m glad you like it, Linda! I have plans for even easier shirt pillows, so stick around. Thanks for visiting, watching the video, and writing to me!

  8. lady-sonja 11. Jul, 2012 at 7:04 am #

    This is such a great idea!! Thank you very much for the instructions!
    Going to try this out.

    Greetings, Sonja.

  9. Isabel 08. Aug, 2012 at 9:48 am #

    What a great idea!! I have some shirts from my husband and I was thinking of making pillows but this is a much easier way because you use the buttons. Congratulations for the idea!

    • Bao 10. Aug, 2012 at 1:07 am #

      I’m so glad you like the project, Isabel. Thanks for visiting and taking the time to write! 😀

  10. Isaiah Hudson 15. Aug, 2012 at 4:03 pm #

    Im going to use your designs ro design my new room

    • Bao 15. Aug, 2012 at 5:02 pm #

      YAY! I’d love to see how it turns out!

  11. Minerva 28. Oct, 2012 at 11:42 am #

    Thank you for sharing this tutorial, I will try to make some.Thank you once again for sharing. Love your blog.

    • Bao 31. Oct, 2012 at 10:51 pm #

      Hi Minerva, I’m so glad you like the tutorial. Thanks so much for visiting my blog and taking the time to write. I’m making some changes so I can put up post more regularly. Again, thanks so much for you support. I am truly truly grateful!

  12. LeDena 29. Oct, 2012 at 3:34 pm #

    This is such a creative idea. I recently moved to the coast and my throw pillows do not match my new coastal decor. I’m heading to the goodwill to find some shirts in blues, tans and beige tones. Hopefully some stirpes too !! I may even try to use the sleeves to make ruffles for the back of the shirt for another look. Absolutely LOVE this idea, $2 for a brand new pillow, Amazing, Thank You again !!

    • Bao 31. Oct, 2012 at 10:55 pm #

      I love coastal decor! Ruffles with the sleeves? Now that’s creative! If you don’t find stripes you can use white shirts and then painting stripes on them or find a blue shirt and use a bleach pen to make white stripes. 😀 I’m so excite about your new decor and your awesome pillows. Please send me pictures! Thanks for visiting and taking the time to write, LeDean.

  13. Julie 25. Feb, 2013 at 11:05 pm #

    this is GENIUS! The video was great, thank you for sharing

    • Bao 25. Feb, 2013 at 11:44 pm #

      I’m glad you like it, Julie! Thanks so much for visiting and taking the time to write! 😀

  14. Paula 26. Feb, 2013 at 3:42 am #

    What a nice idea! I am all for the second life thing.

    • Bao 01. Mar, 2013 at 12:44 am #

      We’re on the same page! 😀 Thanks for, visiting and writing, Paula!

  15. kellie 28. Feb, 2013 at 8:39 am #

    great idea!! thanks for the video!!

    • Bao 01. Mar, 2013 at 12:45 am #

      Hi Kellie! I’m so glad you like it. I hope the video inspired you to make some new pillow with old shirts. Thanks for stopping by to watch the video and say hello!

  16. Vickie 12. Jul, 2013 at 11:53 am #

    Thanks so much for the informative video! I recently bought some women’s linen dresses from a local charity and wanted to make them into pillows and wasn’t really sure how to go about it. Now that I have watched your video it will be super simple and I’ll be able to get more than one pillow per dress doing it your way!

    • Bao 15. Jul, 2013 at 11:59 pm #

      Hi, Vickie! I’m so glad you like the video. It IS super simple, but if you have any questions don’t hesitate to send me a message. Have fun making all those pillows! Thanks for visiting and taking the time to write!

  17. jaya 31. Aug, 2013 at 10:11 am #

    Great use of old shirts wow

  18. Jeanne Huebner 02. Dec, 2014 at 3:58 pm #

    Thank you for such a wonderful memory making idea!! We just lost our dad to Parkinson’s disease. So these pillows will be a wonderful memory of him! Love you for sharing this idea! Jeanne

    • Bao 10. Dec, 2014 at 9:56 pm #

      Hi Jeanne, I’m so sorry to hear about your dad. 🙁 I hope the pillows provide you and your family a little bit of comfort and help keep your wonderful memories of him close. Thanks for stopping by and sharing.

  19. Lois Hardeman 16. Apr, 2015 at 4:22 pm #

    I have been asked to make a pillow from a boy scout uniform. Any suggestions to be able to use part of sleeve badges as well.

    • Bao 09. May, 2015 at 9:12 pm #

      Hi Lois. Those sleeve badge sure are cool! It certainly would be a waste not to use them. What if you remove the badges from the sleeves, and then sew them on the back of the shirt pillow? If leave the sleeves on and sew them shut, you’d have a shirt shaped shirt pillow. 😀

  20. pero photography bw 04. Jan, 2017 at 7:31 am #

    thanx so much for the idea. i will use my old shirts for these

    • Bao 30. Mar, 2017 at 5:14 pm #

      Thanks for visiting and watching. Have fun!

  21. Mehak 15. Feb, 2017 at 4:09 am #

    Thanxxx 4 dis amazing idea… i hav few waste shirts.. m going to try dis

    • Bao 30. Mar, 2017 at 5:12 pm #

      I’m glad you think so, Mehak. Put those old shirts back to work. Have fun!

  22. Leanna 27. Feb, 2017 at 9:40 pm #

    That was one of the BEST demos I have watched online! Clear, concise, WELL-edited!! Excellent project.

    • Bao 30. Mar, 2017 at 5:11 pm #

      Awww…thanks for visiting and watching, Leanna!

  23. Bao 20. Mar, 2012 at 7:01 pm #

    Gracias por el enlace! La almohada se ve increíble. Me encanta el parche de su madre hizo.

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