dude, I'm so helpful (the not-so-helpful t-shirt pillow edition)

When my future-interior-design-business-partner sister Evane left for college a few years ago, she was concerned (and rightly so) about how to make her dorm look less dorm-like.  We found comfy gray bedding and ruffly white blankets at Target and IKEA, but went lazy diy on the pillows.

I call this a not-so-helpful "dude, I'm so helpful" because I've got no pictures of the process.  We did this years ago, but there are a million different tutorials online how to make a pillow (ruffled or not) out of a t-shirt.  (This one is great.)  However, you don't need any (badly-lit) photos from me to do it yourself; it's so easy.  Now, if you need to make a bunch of pillows, you could go to the regular fabric store, but the thrift store is full of shirts (which are inherently shaped perfectly for pillow-making.)  You can find funky old designs/prints and if you go on a sale day, you can go super cheap-o.  I love the soft jersey of a washed-a-million-times t-shirt.  (So many dashes!)

Evane and I started out with neutrals (duvet, blankets and sheets), so we walked into the thrift store with a pretty open color palette. She loved a floral t-shirt that ended up as that pillow in the back, so we started there, finding different t-shirts and a few button ups in great bright colors.  We used IKEA pillow inserts for $3 a pop, but if you go to a thrift store, they have dozens of cheap (and ugly!) throw pillows if you need a different/larger size.  Don't worry about the heinous print on the fabric, just choose one that's smooth (something super bumpy will show through a thin cotton or jersey cover) and that doesn't have piping (makes your edges weird).  You don't have to only look at the x-large shirts, but if you're doing ruffles, the bigger (more fabric) the better.  Look at a couple of tutorials or pinterest for inspiration; get a little creative and go!

Thanks Evi, for the (much better than usual) photos