Ahhh, remember the early 90's? Back then, bands only made t-shirts in one size: XL...sometimes a size L, if you were lucky! So, what's a small girl to do? Well, if you're like me, your love of music overpowers your good judgement, and you buy the shirt anyway! : )

Thankfully, many bands today have gotten wise and are including smaller shirts in their tour merchandise, but I'm still stuck with a huge stack of band t-shirts that I can't bear to part with, due to strong nostalgic value. : ) So what to do? Pillows! : )

You can never have too many pillows! They add charm and personality to a room, and you can just toss them about anywhere you please: the couch, the floor, chairs, your bed... Plus, they are soooo easy to make! So, read on, and have fun!

step one: find yourself a t-shirt

So, here we have an x-large t-shirt from one of my favorite bands of all time, Velocity Girl. Isn't it cute?! But it's like a dress on me, it's so huge!

step two: measure away!

Decide how big you want to make it. I went with 20" X 20" so it would match my other pillows. But get funky! You can make it star shaped, circular, triangular...whatever you want! : ) Try to get the shirt design centered in the middle. Using a ruler or something straight, draw the cutting lines onto the shirt. You can use one of those dressmaking pencils, or, heck, I've even used Crayola markers before in a pinch. They're washable, too! : )

step three: snip snip snip!

Bust out your sewing scissors and start cutting about 1/2" away from those lines! : ) Cause remember, you need some seam space. Don't worry if you can't make a straight cut, because it's gonna be tucked inside the pillow anyway.

step four: sew it on up!

Take your two pieces of fabric, and place the design of the facing down. Now, just whip it through your sewing machine! I used a simple straight stitch, as you can see. And try to sew as straight as you can so the pillow doesn't come out all funky. : ) Use the measurements on the plate to help guide you! And don't forget to leave about a hands-length of the pillow un-sewn! (If you do get caught up in the rhythm of the sewing machine, and you accidentally keep going and sew the whole pillow up, just bust out your seam ripper and make some room!)

step five: stuff it

This is the fun part! ; ) Stick your hand in the hole and pull the whole thing inside-out so the design is on the outside again. Now get yourself some Poly-Fill and start stuffing the pillow!!! : ) Make it as soft or as stuffed as you like!

step six: you done?

All stuffed up? Good! : )

step seven: whip it good!

Now what you're going to do is called a "whip-stitch" where you take the needle, stick it in the fabric, bring it out and over the edge of the fabric, and then back into the fabric. (That's a pretty lame description...so ask a parent if you need to!) You're going to want to keep the raw edges of the fabric tucked in while you do this.

step eight: voila!

Ta-da! You're done! Take your pillow out and introduce it to your other pillows! ("Everyone play nice now!") Don't they look cute? Invite some friends over for a video to break 'em in. : ) Enjoy!!! : )