Pillow seats

I am planning on making Martin a little playroom this summer/fall. More about those plans in a later post.  Jared and I bought new feather pillows (from ikea for only $10) and so our old ones have just been sitting in my sewing room. I knew there was something I could do with them.  It dawned on me a few weeks ago that they would make great little places to  sit for Martin while he played or read. As he demonstrates below reading, The Godly Man's Picture by Thomas Watson. 

It is actually one of his favorite books right now.  He sits down with it and flips back and forth in it for a few minutes.  Then he walks around and sits down again and flips through it again. It is very funny.  I have even started to put the book in different places on the bookshelf to see if he will find it. 

So, back to the old pillows.   They were a little flat and not the right shape.  I measured the width and found it was about 18".  So I measured off 18" in the other direction.  

I took my ruler and drew the line all the way across. I squished as many of the feathers as I could down into that end.  Then I sewed on the line and a second line close to it. Because there were still a few feathers in the end I was cutting off, I sewed a third line to keep them in the end that would be thrown away.  Then I cut between the 2nd and 3rd line. 

After, the cut I was left with these ugly pillows. 

Now to cover them... I used several tutorials online for envelope pillow cases. It took me about ten minutes to finish them. It was super easy.  I used some upholstery fabric from ikea that I bought on sale for $1.99 a yard. For both pillows I cut a 44"x18.5" piece to cover them. So, to cover both pillows cost me $2!!!! 

I am pleased with how they turned out.  Hopefully, the rest of the room turns out well.  I am debating what color to paint the room. Maybe I will just paint the ceiling... So many ideas.  

The above picture shows the envelope back. I have wanted to try to make pillows for a while, but they scared me.  Let me tell you, these type of envelope style pillow covers are so so so easy.  I am thinking about recovering my couch pillows now, but they don't really need it.