Button Down Shirt Pillowcases

Wow.... has it seriously been 4 months since I've posted something crafty? I guess I haven't really been in a cutesy, crafty mindset lately. Even the craft in this post was actually done back in December. I just came across the pictures and realized that I hadn't blogged about this project. Well, time to fix that!

My grandfather passed away back in November (the same grandfather I mentioned in my Apple Pie Moonshine post). He was a very quiet and simple man. You hardly ever saw him in anything other than flannel shirts and overalls, even at fancier occasions. Before he died, he requested that his pallbearers (which consisted of my male cousins and the husbands of my female cousins) wear flannel shirts. Each pallbearer was given one of Papaw's shirts to wear and to keep afterwards.

The day after the funeral, while I was perusing Facebook, a friend of mine shared a link to a pillowcase made from a shirt that belonged to a loved one. The timing and subject matter was kismet! The link never led to any directions on how to make the shirt into a pillowcase though. After some investigating on Pinterest, I felt I was ready to try this on my own.

Now, if you are a professional seamstress, please don't be offended by my directions. I didn't measure a single thing for these pillowcases. Everything was eyeballed. Also, in hindsight, I recommend getting a cheap shirt from Goodwill to experiment on first. I didn't think of that when I started and was scared to death that I was going to screw up my grandfather's shirt. Granted, he had a lot more I could have had, but this was the one my husband wore in the funeral.

How to Make a Pillowcase Out of a Button Down Shirt

First you need to iron your shirt. Don't worry about the collar and the sleeves because you'll be cutting those off in just a minute.

When the hot iron touched the shirt, it released the smell of a wood burning stove- a smell I'll always associate with my grandfather.

Place a pillow insert into your shirt to see how you'd like your pillowcase to look. For this tutorial, I was using either medium to large shirts and a 16" x 16" pillow insert.

Cut off the collar and the sleeves.

Cut off the excess fabric along the waist. I wanted to have a straight-ish edge to work with.

Turn the shirt inside out and then place pins along the stripe that you want to use as a guideline for your first seam. Using plaid flannels made sewing straight lines so easy! Sew your bottom seam.

Unbutton the shirt and put the pillow insert inside. Nestle the pillow down along the bottom seam and eyeball which plaid line you'll be using to create the top of the pillowcase. Remove pillow insert, button the shirt up, and place pins along your guideline. Sew the top seam. Trim off excess material along your top and bottom seams to 1/4". Make sure you don't actually cut the seams off though!

Put the pillow back into the shirt, and follow the step above to create your two side seams. Make sure you have the buttons centered in the middle of your pillowcase.

Unbutton your shirt, turn the shirt right side out, push out the corners, replace the pillow insert, and button your shirt up! You're done!

The best part about these pillowcases? If you ever need to wash them, unbutton them, remove the insert, and throw the shirt in the washing machine! Easy peasy!

Like I said before, if it scares you to try this on a loved one's shirt, hit up Goodwill and get a plaid shirt to practice with. If you feel better about it, you can actually measure everything out....but it turns out perfectly without doing so! With my frequent stops to take pictures of each step, I was able to finish one pillowcase in 15 minutes.

A simple way to remember a loved one! Every time I see my pillow on the couch, it makes me remember Papaw. My son also loves laying on it and tells people who visit that it's his great-Papaw's shirt. :)

Good luck turning a favorite shirt into a treasured item!