How to Upcycle a Tshirt into a Pillowcase!

Are you someone who sees a great deal and buys something even if you don't know what you are going to do with it? I am! Every once in awhile I go our thrift store on Wednesday (which is half-off day) and browse the aisles to see what I see. I found this XL men's tee a long time ago for just 50 cents. I knew I could do something with the green knit!

The time finally came when I needed to make a custom pillowcase for our toddler's new "big boy" bed that we are switching over to robots. I bought him a travel pillow b/c it is just the right size for him, but the downfall was that the pillowcases only came in a couple colors! That when I remembered I had this bright green fabric......

*I really didn't measure anything--I mean, it's a pillowcase! It's ok if it's not perfect.

I knew I wanted to use my robot fabric for the edging on the open side, so I guesstimated the size I needed of the green minus a few inches to leave room for the edging. I used the the side of the shirt so that I would only need to close 2 sides.

I hemmed what will be the bottom and one side of the square, and left the last side open to sew the edging on.

Then I got my robot fabric and folded it in half to a width that I wanted, and for the length just held it up to the end of the green square to see how much it would take to go all the way around it (just picture a pillowcase if you are getting confused...)

This was kind of a tricky part--you have to sew everything inside out so that when you are done you can turn it right side out and it will look nice! Just triple check everything before you sew. First I sewed the ends of the robot strip together, then lined up the fabric inside the green square to sew the raw ends together.

When everything was pinned in place I sewed around the entire edge with a straight stitch, then went back to the edge and did a tight zigzag (in place of a serger) to help soften the edge and prevent fraying.

All done! Trim the threads and turn right side out! Admire your handiwork.

Doesn't it look so cute with his new sheet and fleece tie blanket that I made?

He loves it and it is just right for a little boy!