Sweater Sleeve Accent Pillow How-To

I was working on sprucing up the guest room/ craft room last night, (remember this mess?) and I made a few pillows. I really wanted to do one of those pretty sweater pillows, like this one, but both of the old sweaters I wanted to use already had the bodies chopped off and made into other things. So I made do with the sleeves, and I love the way it turned out!

It's very quick and easy, here's what I did:

You will need 2 contrasting sweaters- at least the sleeves, stuffing (I ripped open an old pillow for mine), and a button or some other type of embellishment.

First I took my black sweater (already just a top half) and cut the  sleeves away from the collar. I tried to cut as close as I could to the collar. Then I opened them up by cutting open the seams on the bottoms- you know, the one that goes from the armpit down. Then I just stacked the two pieces I had left and cut the largest rectangle I could get out of the them- looks like it ended up being about 18" by 9"

Next I cut the sleeves from my white sweater. It is best to use sleeves that already have cuffs for this, but you could also just cuff them yourself.

Unroll both the cuffs and stuff one side into the other. Make sure you shove it deep enough so that when the cuff of the outer sleeve is rolled back up, it looks like it's right in the center and everything is even.

Now sew a seam thru it all right behind the fold of the outside cuff. You will be sewing thru four layers of thick sweater, so if your machine is finicky, you might want to hand sew it. Turn your cuff back over to hide the seam.

Now make a sandwich with your two outside pieces right sides together and the other sleeve piece in the middle. Pin and sew around the outside with a 1/4" seam allowance. Be sure to leave a few inches open on one of the long sides, and backstitch on either side of it.

Now is a good time to cut off the extra bit of sleeves hanging out.

My camera battery died here, but you know the rest. Turn thru the opening you left, stuff, and hand sew shut. I like to use a ladder stitch, which I learned how to do here.

Finally, add a cool button or other pretty embellishment to the middle of your cuff. I used this great button with an anchor on it that came off of an old navy pea coat (not Old Navy, but the actual Navy). I think it's perfect for the black and white pillow.

Best part- $0