crochet:: mochachino pillow cover

This was a fun project ~ lots of recycling going on here at my house.  I had 17 small bundles of yarn left over from the Mochachino Afghan project, and my stash is FULL already.

It all started because I had an issue with my store-bought couch pillows that were less than a year old.  They were lumpy and flattened and definitely not happy pillows.  So, I hunted through my magical craft closet and found that I had a large portion of a white king-size flat sheet left from a quilt.  (Don’t get me started on my whole quilting misadventure.  Don’t get me wrong ~ I LOVE quilts:: I have them on my bed, my walls, my couch, and stacked in my linen closet ~ but MAKING a quilt ~ a total nightmare! I call it “FABRIC-WRESTLING.”)

 

So, I had this great piece of white sheeting and 4 icky pillows; I could feel and eco-friendly project coming to life.

First, I tore open those sad, flat pillows to see what was inside and was pleased to find usable stuffing.  Then I made four 19” cotton squares, quickly stitched them into 2 pillow forms with the sewing machine, and divided the stuffing from 3 of those store-bought nightmares between them, closed them up, and VOILA ~ 2 new plump & squishy couch cushions!          (I still have 1 poor-quality pillow left, but I am thinking of making a small bolster style pillow. I am open for other suggestions too!)

 

I repeated the afghan pattern on a small scale to make envelope shams that I will be able to wash as necessary.  I ended up buying 1 more skein of the lightest color to finish, but felt really proud of myself that I repurposed so much stuff. WooHoo!

The other great part of all this reusing is that I absolve myself of the guilt about buying new yarn for the next project…

To make these, you just have to base chain enough to do the pattern stitch.  My pillows were 10 repeats wide, but if I were to make them again, I would repeat the pattern 11 times to be a make for a better fit on 19” pillows.  As you can see it is a tad too tight.

If you would like to make them, you merely need to make 2 of each piece: front cover, small back piece, long back piece and single crochet them together.  The longer back piece is to make sure that there is enough overlap to cover the pillow form completely.  I am going to add 3 buttons across the back to secure the envelope closure, but that is for another day when I can decide on just the right buttons.  The photos just really don’t do it justice, the lighting is just too dark tonight.

 

I hope that I have inspired you to try some repurposing at your home. Happy hooking!