A couple months ago, my husband’s aunt got new living room furniture and offered us her old stuff. It was 10 or 15 years old, but we liked it better than our own mis-matched pieces, so we happily accepted. We now have a couch, chair, loveseat, and footrest – all matching!
What didn’t match was our throw pillows. Our old couches were tan, and our pillows were shades of brown and red. The new furniture is shades of grey and blue, so there was a lot of clashing going on:
Last fall, I bought a king size blue sheet at a thrift store to make curtains for our son’s room. I had a lot of leftover fabric, so yesterday I spent less than an hour to whip up covers for our pillows:
Much better, I think! The covers are as simple as can be – no zippers or buttons, I just made the back out of two overlapping pieces of fabric. Here’s a picture that shows the back of one of them:
The best part is that they are easy to take off and wash. And our living room looks a lot better. Not bad for leftover fabric… I spent $6 on that sheet, and ended up with curtains and three pillow covers.
Kyle @ Rather-Be-Shopping says
Looks good, nicely done. Jersey mom’s comment reminded me that my Grandma use to make quilts out of old jeans. She would cut the jeans into squares and sew them together. Great blanket for picnics!
Random Thoughts of a Jersey Mom says
That’s very creative! DIY is always cheaper than buying something someone else made. I made a quilt out of my husband’s old t-shirts that he wanted to keep but doesn’t wear =)
Mrs. Money says
I am dying for new living room furniture! I wish someone would give me some hand me downs too. :) I love the new pillows! The blue looks fabulous!
M- says
I know this might sound dumb/weird, but I am curious about you and your husbands body shapes since you both eat predominately plant based food. I was wondering if you might take a clothed backwards body shot of both you and him. This is just a weird idea that I have been wondering about, we moved to a new State that has a lot of vegetarians and vegans and the body shapes seems a little leaner/willowy. I’m originally from a meat and potatoes state and the body types were stronger/muscly.
I know this sounds silly even as I type, but curiosity got the best of me. =)
-m
Kay says
That’s wonderful – $6 for curtains and 3 pillows!!! yayyy for sewing skills!
Simple in France says
I really like that your pillows came from something re-used and that you didn’t need zippers or buttons. BUT I have seen people spend/waste a lot of money on sewing projects . . .it’s like anything else, it’s only as frugal as you make it. I often associate sewing with rampant spending on unnecessary stuff! This post and some others like it I’ve seen lately have got me starting to wonder if a used sewing machine might be a good investment . . .
especially if there are things you can make without zippers!
FrugalBabe says
M – No problem… but your comment did make me laugh :) I’m 5’5″ and weigh about 115 pounds. My husband is 6 feet and weighs about 170. Exercise and fitness is a priority for both of us. He primarily bikes and lifts weights; I mostly do yoga and lift weights, along with lots and lots of walking (used to be primarily running, but I’ve switched to a lot of walking over the last year, and my hip joints appreciate the change). We’ve always been about the same size – switching to a plant based diet didn’t have any impact on our weight, since we were both at a size that we were already happy with.
Simple in France – I agree… sewing can be a very expensive hobby if one purchases new fabric, a fancy sewing machine, and all sorts of supplies. But if it brings great enjoyment for someone, that may be money well spent for that person. I very much enjoy the projects I’ve made so far, and the bonus is that they have all been very frugal. I made our son’s diapers using all recycled fabric that cost about $20. The curtains and pillow covers were very cheap, and I just finished a baby quilt for a friend using thrift store fabric for the front, and old jeans for the back – turned out great, and cost about $3 for material. My sewing machine is from about 1985, but it works great – I got it on Craigs List for $45. If you get a used machine and look for used fabric, you can absolutely come out ahead by sewing simple things yourself. One thing I’ve started doing is double checking clothing before I put it in the donation box to go to the thrift store. If it’s a good fabric, it goes in my fabric stash instead. That’s where the denim for the baby quilt came from – out of date jeans that would have been donated otherwise. Have fun!
Molly On Money says
I’ve been a life long seamstress and although it can be an expensive hobby there are plenty of opportunities to pick up remnents at the store, thrift store or garage sales. I spent years picking up dresses from the second hand store, take them apart and re-creating new outfits.
Don’t bother to go out and get a new machine. Both of my machines are pre- 1960. They are metal and contain no plastic parts to break. My ‘baby’ is a 1955 Pfaff that I got at a garage sale (with the built in cabinet) for $60. The same machine goes for almost $400 at my local sewing machine store.
Here’s a website where they resew dresses giving them a second life:
http://web.mac.com/nicolekulp/recyclemydress/Home.html
FrugalBabe says
Molly On Money – Thanks so much for that link! What a great website! I haven’t yet tried my hand at any clothing projects (other than diapers, and they don’t really count since they go under his pants)… but I bet I could shorten a skirt. I love the picture of the long vintage dress that had its arms removed – I could probably manage that too. I’ll have to broaden my search at thrift stores beyond just things that already look great, and keep an eye out for potential too.
Bridgette says
I’ve enjoyed reading this article and all the comments. At a garage sale I bought an ottoman for fifty cents. In some places, the material was stain. It was hard to remove the spots. I purchase a piece of sample material for around dollar-fifty. It was hard to sew the material to the other fabric on the ottoman. I decided to buy material glue and glue it on. It worked out perfectly! I upholstery my entire ottoman for under four dollars.
Alissa says
Great job, Frugal Babe! Those pillows look awesome. :) You’re getting some great use out of that sewing machine!