An upcycling challenge-ugly pillow covers

Sometimes, it takes us a long time to get from one place to the other.

You see… it’s garage sales. And, oh yes, yard sales. And, um, well, yes… our favorite thrift store, too. They’re all so appealing!

We love having a little schmooze -

there is something so fascinating about looking into the

artifacts of people’s lives…

but… sometimes,

peering into boxes can get  a person into trouble.

Take for instance, a box of free stuff at the yard sale in front of a church……

My first response when I saw these pillows was to reel backwards, and say… wow… those are AMAZING!

No wonder they were in the free box!  Words almost fail me when it comes to the astonishing dreadfulness of these pillow covers.

Now.. you might ask- ‘If you think they are so awful, why did you bring them home?’

Well… it’s the centers…. the embroidery looked quite gypsy-ish, and I thought…. oh!

I could do some serious upcycling here…. Salvage the embroidery and combine it with some weaving, some crochet….

you know….  ‘cross currents’ kind of stuff like I did in this jacket:

I combined embroidery

crochet

handspinning

weaving

knitting

spool knitting

and

tatting

all in  this one

jacket.

I thought…perhaps that I could get rid of the ghastly orange polyester

(many polys and many esters  were harmed in the making of those pillows)

and then salvage the embroidery.

But… what to make?

Should I upcycle them into:

• a tea cosy?
• a shawl or stole
• a jacket
• pillows? duh
• Jim suggested a hat. Um… noooooooooooo
• a bag
• a doll
• ?

I sat down at my loom and had a ‘mulling it over’ sort of a weave.

‘Mulling it over’ weaves are very good for the soul, and they tend to put things in perspective.

As I was sitting at my loom,

weaving away

in that  ‘mulling-ish’ way,

I caught a flicker of

movement that had

me launching myself

across the studio

for my camera.

Ms Kitty had made a decision.

She knows exactly

what the

awful pillow cases

are PERFECT for…..

yes indeed.

Ms Kitty

knows best.

For now…..

So…. what do you think?

What should I upcycle the amazing pillow cases into?  Really. They need to re-incarnate.

Those poor little poly’s and esters really did die in vain.

Oh, wait a minute….. once I separate the ghastly death of poly and ester from the embroidery, perhaps it can be upcycled, too….

I had been thinking ‘landfill’…. but perhaps I was too hasty…. hmmmmmmmmm

Now, you see why it takes us so long to get from one place to another.

It’s inspiration.

There’s just too much of it lurking in boxes labelled: ‘Free stuff- take this away’…..