Happy Friday! Today I want to share a pair of quilted pillow covers I made recently from thrifted quilts!

This was one of the first quilts that I thrifted from the Goodwill Outlet. It unfortunately has a lot of damage, so I knew right away it was going to end up being cut up. So far I've made this pillow and a giant bow out of it!


For this pillow I decided to cut the front at a 45 degree angle, so it looks like the blocks are on point! This allowed me to take advantage of some of the blocks that were in better shape. It's hard to tell from the photos, but this pillow is huge! The form is around 26" square.


I used more of the quilt for the back, centering two blocks.


I did a zippered closure with end tabs for a nice clean look. This is my favorite way to finish pillow covers. I am really proud to say this entire pillow is made from reclaimed materials! I thrifted the pillow form, quilt, scrap fabric and the zipper. I ripped the zipper out of a duvet cover that I found.


This quilt is another Goodwill Outlet find, and most of it became my first quilted coat! I still need to share more about that.


I made this pillow cover for my Mom, for Mother's day! I thought it would look nice in her craft room.


I finished the back of this cover with more scraps of the quilt!


And another zippered closure. Since I was working with already quilted material, these pillow covers came together really fast! I sergered around the edges of all the pieces before I started sewing, to make sure they'll hold up to a gentle wash.

Happy Sewing!

(More) Adventures in Thrifting

Happy Thursday! It's time for another installment of Adventures in Thrifting! We're still getting caught up with a few highlights of the things I've thrifted over the last year. Starting with this sweet paint by number I picked up from Goodwill. I eventually want to either paint the frame or reframe it, but I really like the colors!


Another piece of art I found more recently was this little pansy needlepoint. It needed a bit of help, the frame was damaged and I knew I wanted to spruce it up a little. I ended up painting the frame to look like the edges of a stamp. I am really happy with how it turned out!!


Was very excited to find this Finel teapot in the Kehra pattern. I have a matching bowl!


Another before and after, this time of a very dirty Chemex. My Dad actually bought this, but I helped get it fixed up and in working order again! We've been using a Chemex exclusively for many years and absolutely love it.


I found this little pitcher at the Restore for a couple dollars. I usually keep water in it on the counter to refill my plant propagation station.


Love a good tin, always! This girl scout first aid tin has slots on the back so you can put this on a belt!! So cool.


I picked up this vintage Craftsman carryall tool caddy on the side of the road, for free! It needed some repairs but it's now in working order again!


I was surprised to find this little vintage singer sewing machine at the Goodwill Outlet! It was in this cute plastic carrying case. A great addition to my collection of miniature machines.


One of my favorite table cloth finds! Not sure what I want to do with it yet, we'll see! Maybe one day I'll have a table that is the perfect size for it.


A set of beautiful floral napkins. Since there are only two, I plan to sew them into something! Probably a bag of some kind.


Sweet strawberry napkins and tea towel! The napkins are already being used as napkins but I'll probably cut up the towel!




Always, always looking for sheets and pillowcases!


This was a particularly good day of thrifting! That towel is one of my favorites.

Happy Thrifting!

Adventures in Thrifting: Quilt Edition

Happy Monday! Somehow it's been a year since I did a thrifting adventures post?! I have thrifted so much the last year or so, I need to get back to sharing my finds! I've made the Goodwill Outlet a regular stop of my thrift runs, and I've found a bunch of quilts there! I've loved rescuing these beauties.


This vintage bow tie quilt is probably in the worst shape of all the quilts I've found. I actually went ahead and took it apart, it needs too many repairs. Not sure when I'll find the time, but it was just too cute to leave behind.



In contrast, this pink green and white quilt is the quilt I found in the best shape! I love everything about this quilt: the colors, the pattern, and that bound edge, so good!! I didn't even need to do any repairs to this one.



This quilt is huge! I love logcabin quilts, so this one was a definitely must save for me. It needed a few repairs, and has a few stains but I love it. It fits our queen guest bed perfectly! It makes me want to make a quilt with brown in it.



I share all about this vintage quilt that I thrifted and repaired in October of last year: Vintage Quilt Rescue! It lives in our car.



This was one of the first quilts that I thrifted. It unfortunately has a lot of damage, so I have already started cutting it up to use for small projects. I will probably make a few pillows and some bags maybe?


I made this quilt into a house coat! I used it a ton this past winter. I need to make a proper post about it soon.


This was a wholecloth quilt that I also cut up for a coat! It didn't turn out quite as well (it was way thicker than I realized) but it is very cozy.


Last but not least I found this sweet ABC baby quilt made by Judi Boisson. My daughter loves this one.

Happy Thrifting!

Vintage Quilt Rescue

Happy Tuesday! Today I wanted to share a recent quilt rescue project I undertook!

I've made it a habit to go to the Goodwill Outlet near us in the mornings on the weekend. Digging through the bins of linens and books is a great way for me to check out for 30 minutes or so. It's kind of chaotic, but different from my everyday chaotic, so I can really disconnect for a bit. I've found some incredible things there lately, including a few vintage quilts. I have a really hard time leaving those behind, despite the fact that we have a home full of quilts! Knowing that their next stop is a landfill just hurts.


That's how I ended up bringing home this little quilt! It's a small throw that was in pretty good shape considering. The main issues with it were the binding had mostly disintegrated, and it had almost no quilting holding it together. I knew it wouldn't take much to get this quilt back in working order.


The first thing I did was remove the binding and fix a couple small holes. In hindsight, I probably should have taken the time to replace the batting since it was all balled up in some places. But, we're working with very minimal crafting time over here, so! I knew it needed a decent amount of quilting to make sure it all continued to hold together. I went with a simple diagonal grid. I followed the lines of the patchwork, so the quilting is a bit funky, but that's okay.


Unfortunately, the old binding was not salvageable. Time for new!


All done! It's not a dramatic transformation, but I do think that it's life has been extended.


Other than the fun colors and prints in this quilt, my favorite thing about it is how soft it is. These fabrics have been washed so many times, it's extremely soft.


The back is a plain blue, you can really see the quilting on the back.


I loved the scrappiness of the old binding, but I really didn't have the right solids to recreate it. So I went with this nice woven stripe that's been in my stash forever. I believe it was also thrifted, which is nice!


It felt really good to bring this quilt home and give it a little tender loving care. It is now living a happy life as a car quilt. I keep it in the car to use as a quilt to use in the car, so take out at the park. I hope it has many more years of use in it now!

Happy Quilting!

DIY Ikea Poang Chair Slipcover

Happy Wednesday! Today I wanted to share the cover I made for a thrifted Ikea POÄNG chair! I'm including my measurements and a quick tutorial if you want to make one too.


Last week I found this Ikea POÄNG chair at the thrift store. It had been marked down to $15, which was just too good a price to pass up. I've always liked the look of these chairs and they're comfortable too, so I stuffed it into the trunk and slowly drove it home! I think I saw it there weeks earlier, but the encouragement of friends pushed me to finally buy it. The red color of the cushion is honestly what made me overlook it.

After bringing it home, I first tried dyeing the cover, but it did not go very well. There was just so much fabric and it wasn't taking the dye evenly. I looked to see if Ikea sold slipcovers for this chair, but they don't! So, I decided to make one myself.


I took some quick measurements and decided to use a sheet to cover it. I knew that's what would best fit the style of the room and also would be plenty of fabric. I took advantage of the narrow hem of the sheet for the back of the cover, it avoid needing to hem in. I wanted this project to be quick and easy! The cover is just a really simple envelope style pillow cover.

DIY Ikea Poang Chair Slipcover

Want to sew your own slipcover for your POÄNG chair? Here are the details:

Materials:
3.5 yards of fabric (or a flat sheet)
1 yard of velcro
Coordinating thread

Cutting:
Cut (1) 56"x25" piece for the front.
Cut (2) 31"x25" pieces for the back.*

*If you're not using a sheet with a hem for the back pieces like I did, add to the 31" measurement for the hem you want.

Instructions:
Use a 1/4" seam allowance.

Place front piece right sides up on your work surface. Place a backing piece right sides down, lining up the raw edges with the sides and bottom of the front piece. Place remaining backing piece right sides down, lining up the raw edges with the sides and top of the front piece. The two pieces should overlap in the middle. Pin around all four sides.

Sew around all for sides, securing the backing in place. Finish seams with a zig-zag stitch or serger if desired. Turn cover right sides out and press. Stuff cushion into cover.

Place cushion on the chair frame to determine where to add velcro strip. Attach velcro to the back of the cover according to manufacturer's instructions.


Because I used a thin fabric and I made the cover snug, the stitching lines from the cushion underneath show through! An added bonus. I have yet to add the velcro strip to my cover because I didn't have enough on hand. It's perfectly functional without it, but I am still looking forward to wrapping this project up and getting it installed properly!


My scrap pouf is filling up and makes for a great foot stool to go with the chair! Read more about that project here: Scrap Pouf in Progress

Did you know that Ikea has been making the POÄNG chair for more than 40 years? I love how this chair is fitting into my sewing room! There have been armchairs in and out of this room over the last year, and I was really missing having a comfy chair in here. This has been a wonderful addition. In the end, I'm glad my dyeing experiment didn't pan out, because I love the sweet floral cover I ended up making for it!

Happy Sewing!