New Uses for Old Bed Pillows

A few days ago I posted a simple idea for making your own DIY Doggie Bed from a couple of throw rugs and some batting!



Well, as often happens, one of the comments on that post turned out to be an even BETTER idea than the one I posted!  Sheesh..."my" readers have no qualms about showing me up!

I kid of course!!  I LOVE when people share their ideas and experiences...it's the fuel that keeps this blog running! :-)

Anyway....NaDell said...

I like to fill throw pillows with stuffing from pillows that just aren't nice enough to use for our heads anymore. I wash the pillow before using the stuffing for filling in other pillows. Batting is expensive and we always seem to have a few lousy pillows around here.

February 12, 2012 2:04 AM

I always know when something is a "Good Thing" when I am immediately inspired to go and try it! Which is exactly what I did after reading this. (Thanks NaDell!)

It just so happened that I had purchased a couple of quality material cloth napkins at the thrift store the week before for .25 cents each. I was pretty sure I would figure out a use for them....and whattayaknow....I did!  We are always in need of throw pillows to "dress up" our "seen better days" couches in the family room and these would fit the bill nicely.


All I had to do now was go to the linen closet (which upon opening literally attacked me and buried me under an avalanche of bedding! MY BOYS HAVE SOME 'SPLAINING TO DO!) and pick out one of several old, tired pillows that were ready for retirement.


I threw the pillow and the napkins in the washing machine (after treating a couple of mystery stains on the napkins with my Homemade "Shout" treatment), then the dryer and after a little ironing (the napkins, not the pillow) I was ready for my little impromptu DIY session.


Since the pillows were already finished with a nice edge, I decided to just sew them together, RIGHT SIDES OUT, leaving an opening for stuffing. Then after shaking the contents of the bed pillow down to one end, I cut the other end off and started filling my pillow casing.

Now I had the luxury of doing this when no one was around and so the stuffing fluff was kept pretty well under control. But I would imagine things could get out of hand pretty quickly if small children or animals were involved. So just keep that in mind. :-)

After I had it filled to my liking, I machine stitched the opening closed and then fused the edges together with a little Stitch Witchery (fusible bonding tape).

After filling the throw pillow casing...I had a nice amount of stuffing left over for my next project! :-)

Final results of impromptu DIY session:
A "new" throw pillow for the couch.....and a place for a prince to lay his head.  :-)  (Thanks to my youngest, Sten, for being the "nap model").

All for LESS THAN ONE DOLLAR. That is just a hard number to beat!

Not in need of any throw pillows in your house?  Here are a few more ideas for Recycling Old Bed Pillows from ehow.com:

***Sew a pet beds for your dogs and cats (or I found this NO SEW version as well) and fill with old pillow stuffing. Your familiar smells will comfort them.

***Sew chair pads for wood chairs and fill with old pillow stuffing  or no cost.

***Sew seat pads for benches and lounge chairs. Use weather-resistant fabric and pack with old pillow stuffing.

***Filling for new and repaired stuffed toys for children and pets.


I have NO DOUBT all of you will have even BETTER ideas to add....which will then lead to another blog post...and we'll be right back where we started!   Which is not a bad place to be! :-)

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UPDATE: 2/21/2012

I dismantled another old pillow in our house today. It was an old pillow the boys had taken camping and was filthy!  I washed and dried it and then proceeded to rip the stuffin' out of it. lol.  For a relatively FLAT pillow...it sure had a lot of STUFFING in it!  Look at that enormous pile of fluff!  And it's really nice and SOFT too!

The reason I needed more pillow fluff was to make a couple of bolster pillows from some cases I found at the thrift store. We are "pillow huggers" in this family. We like to sleep on our side on ONE pillow while "hugging" another one. I thought these cases made out of super soft knit fabric would be perfect "huggers". :-)
This was almost TOO easy.  No sewing, just stuffing and tying the ends. And as predicted...they are soooooooo soft!  I ALSO predict there will be some fighting over these. ;-)

Recycling old bed pillows into useful household stuff is today's.....