Anyone who’s ever made their own throw pillows or floor cushions knows that you’ll have to find something to stuff into your pillow or cushion. Pillow forms and loose stuffing are options, but we came across a neat pet product we find potentially inspiring.
Molly Mutt’s Stuff Sacks are a neat way of creating dog beds for your pet in an affordable and eco-friendly way by reusing old or unwanted clothes as the stuffing, and then covering the sack with a durable fabric dog duvet. Not only do we think this is a fun idea for pets, we think there might be a DIY stuffing idea for human cushions, too.
Of course, if you have unwanted clothes you could donate them to thrift stores or give them to friends, but what about the ones with stains, rips or tears? What do you think about adapting old, unwanted clothes into stuffing for homemade pillows and cushions? We admit, clothes would probably not make for the smoothest stuffing choice, but with certain fabric textures used as the pillow covers we think this idea just might work. In honor of DIY month this month, we ask, what do you think about recycling old clothes to use as stuffing for pillows and cushions? Have you ever used something for your own pillow projects that was unconventional? Let us know!
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Comments (14)
Most donated clothes end up flooding the markets in developing countries anyway. I say that making pillows out of them is a great idea!
lumpy. how comfortable could that be?
i'll pass and keep using stained clothes as rags.
I agree with zoee that they may be lumpy, but you need soooo much batting to stuff a floor cushion or any large pillow, that I don't see why you couldn't start with a clothing layer on the bottom and put some fluffiness on top...
I'm making some floor cushions right now, and I was trying to think of how to make them firmer, so they wouldn't squish to 2" when someone sat on them. I'm definately going to do this...so many stained kids clothes...and a few of my own. :)
Could be a way to keep the dog off the bed- if I stuff with clothes that smell like us, maybe he will think he's sleeping with us? LOL
I think this could work if you cut the old clothes into strips or small pieces before you put them in the pillow. Using a rotary cutter, that wouldn't take long at all.
I haven't actually done it yet, but I've been collecting Walmart bags to use for stuffing one of those giant Amy Butler gumdrop pillows. And I recall that the Moroccan leather footstools were often stuffed w/ newspaper.
I've taken old pillows that were no longer bed-worthy and gutted them for throw pillow purposes.
I do agree with allisonharris, cutting the cloth up into strips would take care of the "clumpy" feeling.
My mom used to save old pantyhose and cut them into tiny pieces for pillow stuffing. It was washable and didn't clump, so it made really great pillows!
I think this is a great idea!
As a sewer and knitter, I use leftover fabrics and yarn to stuff pillows.
Love this idea! I always hate it whenever I throw a stained shirt or something away, and now I have a reason to save them. :)
Lumpy. Heavy. Difficult to keep "fluffed" and attractive. Impossible to wash without disassembly. (Polyester fiberfill can be machine washed if the covers permit. If pet pees on the pillow, this becomes important!)
I've tried it and I will never do it again, but as always, your mileage may vary.
I've done this with small pillows and with our draft dodgers. Filling and avoiding lumpiness is definitely easier if fabrics are cut into small chunks. Honestly, my husband didn't even notice.
We love us some Molly Mutt, as does our baby pup, Jack. We actually recently wrote a post on our love of all things doggie duvet:
http://www.yellowbrickhome.com/a-new-bed-for-jack/
Rather than go with the stuff sack, we used Jack's old bed as the "stuffing", which was originally stuffed with polyfill. However, until we decided to do that, I'd heard nothing but great things about stuffing with old T's, towels, and the like.
A customer review on Amazon indicated the tag has made in China. UGH!