The Great Pillow Upcycle

I don't know about you, but when I buy new pillows I never seem to throw away the old ones. My excuses range from claiming they are guest pillows to worrying we'll hate the new pillows and want our old ones back.  So, when we cleaned out of storage closet a few weeks ago, we found four pillows in there that were not being used! Yikes! I knew that I needed to get rid of those pointless, hoarded pillows but I couldn't bring myself to throw them away....so I do what I always do in this situation.  I upcycled them!

Via

With camping season upon us, John and I are realizing we are getting older. No longer can we sleep on the ground with rocks and sticks poking us all night long without waking up too sore to move.  No longer can we simply roll up a sweatshirt and use it as a makeshift pillow without tossing and turning all night long unable to get comfortable.  We've turned into the luxury-craving campers that need pillows and an air mattress and other things we swore we'd never succumb to.

Enter the first pillow upcycle project.  I hated toting two full-sized pillows with us camping. Not only do they take up too much room, but they also announce to the world that we aren't rough and tough campers anymore. After seeing some small camping pillows at a sporting goods store (for $20 each, no less), I decided to make our own camping pillows.

After ripping out the seams of the pillow, I washed the fabric in bleach and cut it in half while the stuffing was sitting in the sun.  Using my awesome new sewing machine, I was able to quickly sew 3.5 sides on both pillows to create a pillow-like shape. Sorry I don't have pictures of the process...I was too excited to stop and look for the camera.  I tore apart the stuffing to fluff it up and divided it in half.  Stuffing it into the pillow, I then sewed up the final seam and voila!

The pillows are ridiculously misforned and lumpy, but they'll work better than a rolled up sweatshirt and will hopefully reform as we sleep on them.

 When I got my sewing machine back in February, a surprise package was sent to me by my grandmother with lots of scraps of fabric and sewing essentials. One fabric reminded me of wood and camping so I decided to use it as a pillow case for the pillows.

It was the perfect amount for two pillow cases - which are a must when camping.  Gotta wash all that smokey, camping smell off when you get home!

So, that is how I turned an old, hoarded pillow into two awesome camping pillows.  I'll let you know how they work later this week - we're heading camping for a few days and are eager to try them out.

Oh, and stay tuned for the other things I made with the extra pillows!