Sweater Pillows, Candle Cozies and More!

With the weather turning cooler and the leaves changing color, our thoughts have turned to cozying up our homes for fall.  There’s nothing like wearing a soft, warm sweater for fall so why not incorporate them into your home decor?   Elizabeth and I have enjoyed upcycling old sweaters that we find at thrift shops, rummage sales and even in our own closets.

For pillows, we start by cutting the sleeves and turtleneck off (if there is one)  and then cutting the remaining sweater into a standard size pillow (18 inch, 20 inch, 12×16 inch) .

The larger the sweater, the larger the pillow so a men’s XL or XXL sweater  is great for this purpose.  To make a  sweater pillow you simply sew up 3 1/2 sides, and  leave an opening to insert a pillow form.  Sometimes you can use the existing side seams and just sew across the top and partially across the bottom. We finish the edges with a zigzag stitch to minimize fraying and then turn the pillow cover right side  out.  We insert a pillow form and then hand sew the opening. Lately, we have been adding a zipper so that the cover is removable for cleaning.

Here’s a few that are presently in our Etsy store:

If a sweater already has buttons or a zipper up the front, you can actually incorporate it right into your pillow cover, like we did with this one:

 and this one which had a zipper up the front:

Sometimes we combine a sweater with a different fabric for the reverse side. Here’s one that is a combination of a green wool sweater on one side, and navy wide wale corduroy from a men’s shirt on the reverse side … two looks in one pillow!

No piece goes to waste and that includes the sweater sleeves. These look great slipped over a vase or candle cylinder.  Just cut the sleeves to the appropriate  and hem the bottom raw edge either by hand or machine. Actually, I’ve been known to just leave the cut edge unfinished when it is for use in my own home!  You can also use the neck of the sweater for a shorter vase.  So simple.

 Here’s some we did that have a beachy look by using a cotton open weave sweater…so pretty with the candlelight peaking through:

The sweater scraps get turned into flowers that can be pinned on to existing pillows to embellish them for fall.  Lately, we’ve been experimenting with making larger ones for greater impact on a large pillow.

We showed how to make sweater flowers here.

And check out these adorable sweater pumpkins made from sleeves from StoneGableblog.com!  I am anxious to try this.

Hope you are enjoying adding some fall touches to  your home!

Debra