After more than twenty years of loyalty, our once vibrant furniture and throw pillows faded into dull memories. Instead of throwing them out and buying new ones, we decided to give them a stunning new life by upcycling the furniture and crafting fresh throw pillows to transform the parlour. Today, I'm excited to share with you how we transformed the foam from our tired old parlour chairs into vibrant throw pillows.
After my woman(mom) came up with this genius idea to make as many pillows as possible using all the foam that was stripped off the old parlour chairs, we got to work.
The very first thing I did was chop the foam into smaller chunks. Although this seemed like an easy thing to do at first, I got so many bruises and a running nose while doing this. A majority of the foam wouldn't budge when a pair of scissors was used, so I had to tear them apart piece by piece. This is what caused the bruises as they were quite tough.
After three days of diligently tearing dusty foams apart, this phase finally came to an end. The foams were thrown into the washing machine and sun-dried afterwards in preparation for the next phase.
While I was busy chopping the foams, my woman took the initiative to cut and sew the throw pillow covers. She cut a wide rectangular, folded it in half and sewed the edges with a needle and thread. Next, she hand sewed the zippers.
The full-length foams were cut into squares that could fit snugly into the already sewn pillow clothes. Next, both halves of the square were gummed together at the sides and a slit was made on one side of the coupled squares. This slit would serve as an opening to stuff the chopped foams.
You may wonder why the chopped foams were not just stuffed directly into the throw pillow cover. First, adding the full-length foam helps to define the throw pillow, giving it a distinct shape. Next, it prevents the chopped chunks of foam from bulging out and causing discomfort. Also, after stuffing the foams, the slit is sealed up and this ensures that the foam remains intact, irrespective of whether the cover is taken off or not.
The square foam was carefully placed into the square throw pillow cover. Then, the chopped foams were stuffed in through the slit. It's worthy to note that so much foam shouldn't be stuffed into the pillow to avoid coming down with a turgid throw pillow that can be a menace for sensitive necks.
Finally, the slit on the full-length foam was laced with gum, sealed up and the zipper closed. These were the easy steps taken to create the beautiful throw pillows that now sit pretty on our parlour chairs. This was a very handy way to upcycle the tons of foam we had lying around.
What do you think of these throw pillows? Have you ever tried making throw pillows? Pray tell.
Thumbnail designed on canva. The rest of the images belong to me.
