High-Five T-Shirt Pillow Tutorial

So, here is my tutorial for making a t-shirt pillow. This can be machine or hand stitched, so it is really great for anyone who wishes to give it a try. It could even be a kid friendly project.

Items Needed:
-Smaller t-shirt (the ones pictured are 2/3T)
-tie dye (kits make this pretty user friendly)
-2 scraps of fabric, one hand print sized, one big enough to close up the neck opening.
-marker
-fabric scissors
-sewing machine or thread and needle

Instructions:
*Wash and dry the t-shirt

*Follow the tie dye directions
While you are letting your shirts sit, why don't you check out some of the other fun things I have on my blog.

*Trace the hand print directly onto one of the scraps of fabric (or onto a cereal box or other stiffer paper, then onto the fabric).

*Cut out the fabric hand print

*Stitch the hand print onto the t-shirt wherever you like it best. (If you are doing more then one shirt for more then one child at the same time, just write the child's name on the inside of the hem at the bottom of the shirt.)

*Use the other scrap and sew it to the inside of the neck opening. I have no great advice on how to do this, just wing it till it works :)

*Sew up one sleeve and the bottom hem. I sewed right over the stitching that was there because I liked that the sleeves "opened" a bit.

* Stuff the t-shirt through the open sleeve, then stitch the sleeve up when you are happy with it's fluffiness.



Take a picture of the happy child holding their cool, upcycled, one-of-a-kind t-shirt pillow, and send it to me. (just kidding, you don't have to send me a picture if you do not want to, but I would love to see them!)

Almost forgot, if you love this pillow but are unable to make it yourself, I would love to make one for you! Check out this page for how to order.

Hand Print Gift Ideas

I don't need to remind anyone that times are tight right now. Lucky for me though, I love crafting and giving. Even better for me, most things I make I created from recycled items. A great way to cut costs even more.

Holiday gifts will be handmade this year. I even convinced my sister to jump on my band wagon :)

I have to tell you, I love my daughters hands. Ever since she was a baby, my favorite thing to do with her, is trace her hands or paint them and make hand prints. It is a great way to follow her growth in a fun and different way.

So, here are a few projects we have made. I have added a link for where I found the idea, and they all over tutorials, so go on over and check them out!

Hug Pillows (found here: From An Igloo)

This will be a pillow for one of the grandparents (if you happen to be reading this, pretend to be surprised at Christmas). We have 4 of the 6 grandchildren on here.
For this project, I actually purchased fabric. I really try not to purchase fabric, but if I do, I make sure to shop in the clearance section and use a coupon. Some of the fabric for this pillow did come from clothes destined for the thrift shop, so I guess it can be considered partially upcycled.

For the hug pillow, I also created some less...formal ones.

These are made from upcycled clothes. The stuffing and thread are new.

High Five Pillows (just a slightly different take on the hug pillow).

These are my nephews pillows. Emma and the boys had great fun using them for a pillow fight.

This project came about due to an oops. A few weeks ago I had Emma and her 3 cousins make some tie dye t-shirts. In a moment of laziness, I bought each of them a package of 5 plain white under shirts. Apparently, they run small :( The shirts for Emma and her youngest cousin, T-Bear, didn't fit. We were able to use the shirts from Emma for T-Bear, but I wasn't sure what to do with the shirts from T-Bear. My sister suggested making them into t-shirt pillows. I loved it! Having 5 t-shirts, and 4 kids, I made a t-shirt for each. I thought adding their own hand print to their shirts would be fun.

Hand Trees (found here: At Second Street)

My oldest nephew didn't want to make one of these so it was just Emma and two of her cousins. I was a little frustrated that Emma and G-Man didn't want to add more leaves, but it is their trees, so I decided to butt out (and not add more after they left the table).

So, this is some of what we have been up too. I hope to get more pictures, but it is slightly slow going as my camera eats batteries. I manage to take about 10 pictures before the batteries are dead. So, now I remove the batteries after each picture taking session. I hope that helps.

Thanks for reading, I hope you find some inspiration here!