Deconstructing A Man's Shirt!

I read in a magazine not too long ago how you could make pillows from men's shirts and I just loved the idea. At the time though I had my soap business and there was just no way I could fit that into my schedule.

Once the business was sold this was one of the firsts things I set out to do. I hunted all over town for the perfect men's shirts for the projects I had in mind. I think I was successful and purchased 18 shirts for $25.00 with a total visit to three different thrift stores.

So today I'll be showing you the deconstructed shirt and my plans for each piece with some follow up blog posts about the individual projects. 

THE COLLAR:  I'll be using these guys once I've collected enough with colors that really work well together and create some fabric roses for some wreaths. I've actually made one already done up in shades of blue and will do a post about that in the next few days.

THE CUFFS:  Right now my plan for these guys is to make some cuff bracelets. I haven't tried this yet but hope to in the very near future. But I have to tell you I'm a bit unsure about that idea so I have these cuffs  sitting out in plain site so that they will sort of speak to me.

THE FRONT & BACK:   Both the front and back of the shirts will be used for pillows. I'll be making the pillows so that the buttons and pockets will be on the front and using the back of the shirt for the back of the pillow.  I plan on doing a 16" square pillow which will take up most of the fabric leaving some for a men's shirt patchwork pillow to also be done in the future. Also some of  the men's shirts have some nice designer labels that I'll be using on the pillows, like Clairborne etc.

THE SLEEVES: Lots of valuable fabric here that could be used for different projects. My original plan was to cut the fabric into strips and create those fabric wrapped styrofoam balls, but we'll see if that is what I'll do. I also liked the idea of creating a men's sachet with a really nice fragrant fill. I love the part of the sleeve that has that little button down the end and will definitely incorporate that into whatever project it becomes.

Okay I'm off to make some pillows and I'll get back with you to show you the wreath I made with the collar fabric roses.