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Upcycled Pillow Backs
Karin recommends seeking out large, color shirts without
pockets. Look for fun buttons, or snaps. Most of these are
found in the women's department, in the extra large sizes.
"Men's shirts are excellent as well, but they frequently have
pockets ­ which I generally avoid. However, pockets can be
worked into a pillow back if you are making a gift, simply
put a little message in the pocket for the recipient, and it will
look like you did it on purpose!" Avoid shirts with darts--
you're looking for square or rectangular pieces.
In general, the width of the shirt, from seam to seam should
be no smaller than the width of the pillow, and the length
from the armpit to the hem should be no shorter than the
length of the pillow. The larger the shirt, the larger your
pillow can be. Cut the front body of your shirt away from
the sleeves and the back. Lay it flat on a table, with the
buttons closed and facing up.
Lay your felted panel flat on the front of the shirt, right side
facing down, touching the buttons. If there is room, align
the shirt buttons so that they are centered on the panel. Pin
the panel to the shirt front, then use the panel as if it were
a pattern piece and cut the shirt even to the panel. Keeping
the panel and the shirt pinned together, use a sewing
machine to stitch around the entire panel. Use a basic stitch,
and keep the felt on the bottom while stitching.
After you've stitched around the piece, open the button
panel (it's a little tricky, as the buttons are now on the
inside) and turn inside out. Stuff it with a pre-made pillow
form or poly-fill. You can easily create a custom-sized pillow
form if you find an almost perfect zippered form: unzip it,
remove some stuffing, sew a seam to make the case smaller,
and you have a custom sized insert without a lot of work.
Fiberlicious Café Chairs
Using 3 balls of Reggae Ombre for each chair:
1. Make large slip knot and place over fingers.
2. Reaching around and over rail grab a loop of yarn
and pull through knot.
3. Tightening first loop, grab yarn reaching under rail
drawing through a new loop. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until
rail is covered in yarn.
Visit www.skacelknitting.com for more detailed
instructions.
For the aqua and bronze chair, knit a tube using addi
®
Express King Size knitting machine with 3 balls
color #2202. Felt this tube in the washing machine,
then cut it open to create a flat piece. Cover the
seat back and use remaining piece to make a seat
cushion. Cushion shown features two panels
joined with a decorative whip stitch. The firey
red orange chair was covered with color #1874.
Hexalicious Cushion
To make a patchwork hexagon cushion you'll need
2 balls of #1874 and 1 ball each of #1965 and #1963.
Make 12 hexagons in color #1874 and one in #1965
as follows: using a skacel addi Turbo
®
size US 10
needle, cast on 13 stitches (since this will be felted,
you needn't really worry about gauge).
Row 1: Knit across row to last stitch, slip last stitch,
holding yarn to front.
Rows 2 and 3: knit 1, *knit into front and back of
the next stitch*, knit to last stitch and slip, holding
yarn to front.
Repeat Rows 1-3 until you have 25 stitches.
Continue with the following decrease rows:
Row 1: Knit across row to last stitch, slip last stitch,
holding yarn to front.
Rows 2 and 3: knit 1, knit 2 together, knit to last
stitch, slip last stitch, holding yarn to front.
Repeat Rows 1-3 until 13 stitches remain. Bind off
all sts.
Sew the 13 hexagons together in different directions
to create a random pattern as shown in photo, with
color 1965 in the middle.
To remove the stepped edge and create a complete
round, you will need to knit 6 oversized half
hexagons in #1963 as follows:
Cast on 13 stitches (or pick up 13 stitches in the
voids between the outer hexagons).
Row 1: Knit across row to last stitch, slip last stitch,
holding yarn to front.
Rows 2 and 3: knit 1, *knit into front and back of
the next stitch*, knit to last stitch and slip, holding
yarn to front.
Repeat Rows 1-3 until you have 25 stitches.
Next Row: Knit 1, knit into front and back of next
stitch, knit across row until 2 stitches remain, knit
into front and back of next stitch, slip last stitch,
holding yarn in the front.
Repeat this row until you have 59 stitches. Bind off
all sts.
Sew the edges of the oversized half hexagons into
place ­ creating a complete circle.
If you'd prefer not to seam anything, you can work
the hexagons modularly, picking up stitches from a
just worked hexagon. Wash to felt. Stuff and back as
desired. Enjoy!
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