Sewing Presents for Christmas 2013

Fraternity T-shirt Back

Fraternity T-shirt Front

On the previous post which highlighted the college t-shirt quilt I hinted at a creative use for additional
t-shirts.  Online there is no difficulty finding many neat ideas for reusing favorite t-shirts but I've never before seen pillowcases.



I work for the Student Ministry at a local church and t-shirts are ordered for multiple events every year.  By Christmas there remains a large selection of leftovers.

Graphic T's Front

Graphic T's Back

After seeing my previous t-shirt quilts one of our youth interns was interested in having a quilt made out of his many graphic t's.  We struck a deal in which he cut the squares and provided the backing and I constructed the quilt.





With t-shirts on my mind and so many at my disposal I wanted to make a quick gift for all the interns.  In retrospect I did make a t-shirt pillow case many years ago with some left over Christmas fabric and a white t-shirt.  The idea popped up again and with a dip into the many wonderful remnants I am still working through I went to work.

Front/Back with added fabric
top and bottom.

For the youth staff I sewed a pair of pillow cases out of 4 different shirts.  I did a slightly different style on each but on every pair I added stability by lining the inside of the opening with the coordinating fabric.

Decorative stripe with inside lining.

With this style the neck was retained filling in with fabric from the sleeve. The shirt was a large which was wide enough to reach the standard pillow case size without extra fabric therefore coordinating fabric was used to decorate the outside of the pillow case as well as inside the opening.


An extra large shirt was too big for a standard sized pillow case.  On this design I cut more fabric off the sides and made the pillow case to size with the coordinating fabric.  This design also retained the neck.

The neck was retained and filled in with fabric from the sleeve.

The quilt I'd made for our intern had enough remnants to create matching pillow cases out of yet another shirt.

I expect these pillow cases will be used at times when a pillow may get thrown around on the vehicle floor, into a tent or out by the fire.

 Situations where you don't want to mess up a "good" pillow case, which makes them perfect for anybody on a road trip, school trip, family trip or at scout camp, summer camp, church camp or on any kind of overnight adventure.

If you make a pillowcase I would love to see it, please post a link in your comments.

Happy Holidays, Happy Sewing!!