Holiday Pillows & Gift Bags [From Pajama Bottoms!]
Hi there! Great to have you here for Day #6 of my 12 Days of Christmas event. I’m sharing more of an IDEA today, rather than a detailed project tutorial.
I think it’s a little bit genius, so I wanted to pass it on. Using a certain everyday sort of item, I’ve created some holiday pillows and gift bags.
If you’ve not yet had the chance to read Days #1-5, then be sure to check them out here. For another unexpected way to create some resuable gift bags, check out this post.
Can you guess what I used to make these festive plaid pillows?
Does a closer look help?
How about now? If you guessed fleece pajama bottoms, then you answered correctly!
The red plaid practically screams Christmas so when I came across them, along with a few other pairs on sale at the thrift store for the happy-dance-inspiring price of ONE DOLLAR, I had to do some quick brainstorming.
What to do with these pretty fabrics?
Looking at the long [mostly straight] legs of the PJ bottoms, it occurred to me that many of them were just the right size for oblong pillows.
And I recalled seeing some small, travel-size pillows when I’d first arrived at the thrift store. Truly, a match made in heaven.
How to Make Upcycled Pajama Bottom Pillows
To create pillows like these yourself:
- Find pajama bottoms with fairly wide legs,
- Match them up with some narrow pillows,
- Cut the legs to the proper length–about 2″ longer than the length of your pillow,
- Use your sewing machine to straighten out any bits that aren’t perfectly straight, like where the leg might widen up toward the hip area,
- Sew one end of your pillow cover shut (right sides facing together),
- Stuff your pillow into your fleece cover, and
- Sew the end shut using a blanket stitch.
If you’re brave, you can mix and match your patterned pillows or find some coordinating single-color PJ bottoms for easier mixing and matching with your patterned fabrics.
After making several pillows with my pajama bottoms, I had quite a bit of fabric left. What to do with all that pretty leftover Christmas-y fleece?
Making some reusable gift bags seemed like a pretty good idea.
How to Make Pajama Bottom Gift Bags
I used the narrower, ankle end of the pajama bottoms to make most of my gift bags. The hemmed end becomes the already “finished” top and then the “bottom” gets sewn shut.
Alternatively, you could use fusible webbing and an iron to seal the bottom rather than sewing
Make more gift bags using the fabric from up near the waist. Simply cut rectangles of fabric, fold them in half, and sew along two sides to make a bag.
You don’t need to get too worried about whether the top is hemmed or not since it’s fleece and won’t unravel.
If you want to get really fancy, which I did, you can sew or glue cotton twill tape, ribbon, or scrap of fabric to the back of your bag, like you see here. In this way, your bag has a perpetual “ribbon” to tie the top closed.
I made a basketful full of them and use them year after year. You can also use flannel pajama bottoms for either pillows or gift bags.
The pale green bags and the red plaid bags with green that you see in the back of the basket are all flannel.
An added benefit to these sorts of bags is that they are GREEN! I’m planning on giving them as gifts to a few relatives who I think will enjoy using them over and over again to package their children’s gifts.
Upcycling pajama bottoms into pillows for the holidays is a remarkably easy way to add some festivity to your home decor.
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What a fun idea! There are always several racks of pajama bottoms at the thrift stores so you can get a plethora of designs and fabrics. Good upcycle idea. Thanks for helping us see beyond the specific purpose of an item. Loving this flow of the days of Christmas.
I’m so glad you’re enjoying my 12 Days of Christmas, Laura 🙂 It’s been fun on my end, too. I’m with you–I LOVE a good upcyle!
Loved your fleece pillows. Here in Maine, anything cuddly in the winter is great. Although I haven’t used fleece yet, I have been making Christmas cloth gift bags for years I sew the ribbon, cord or even pearls into the side seam. Thrifted, yard sale, or fabric from Joanne’s (70% off recently) or my favorite discount store after Christmas works for me! Ditto for ribbons! Great church bazaar item. (My all time favorite was a thrifted sheer shower curtain with violets with the gift wrapped in tissue and tied shut with pearls!). Thrifted tablecloths work well too as there are so many seams that provide an already done top! I have also used your idea of scarves for a quick gift bag, too! We went from filling the woodstove 4 times with gift wrap to 2! That’s greener. I also use my tin collection for a quick wrap; it looks cute under the tree and cats can’t do any damage! This year I “wrapped” open ended cereal boxes and added handles for a gift bag/box ahead of time. Wrap a gift in tissue, shove, tag, done! It sure helps with the Christmas crazies around here! Wired ribbons work well as they can be reshaped easily for another year! One friend and I passed the same bag back and forth for 3 years!
Hi Kathy! You always have some many great “add-on” ideas for my projects!! Thanks so much for sharing them. You are one super creative lady 🙂
How very cute! I’m going to mention you on my blog post tomorrow. Love the recycle idea! The cards were adorable too!!!!
Hi Cynthia! So great to hear from you 🙂 Thanks so much for the mention–I’ll pop on over for a visit to check it out!
You’ve done it again! I love seeing the cute fleece pants and making pillows out of them or bags is perfect. Next thrift shop visit I’ll be checking them out for some cute patterns.
Hi Linda! So great to hear from you 🙂 Happy hunting for some cute fleece jammies!
Hum…looking at around the house and starting to envision in a new way! Thanks Diana
That’s so great to hear, Terry–I love stimulating creative thought 🙂
Cute idea!
Thanks!!
Such a cute idea, and practical too for using recycled clothing! You are very creative!
Hi Elaine–so nice to hear from you; I hope you are doing well(?). I’m glad you enjoyed the post–it was a fun one 🙂
I love my fleece jammies….don’t think I could cut them up. But I know you mean for us to find something at the thrift shop. 🙂 Cute ideas, although cat hair sticks really well to fleece, so I don’t think I could do the pillows. The gift bags are the cutest!!
No! Don’t cut up your jammies! Yes, buy some really CHEAP (but super cute) ones at the thrift store and cut away. Sorry I’m not knowledgeable about cat hair. I have some on my bed–are cats allowed there??
Hey Diana! Love the flannel pillows I found a red plaid sheet that I’m going to make into curtains! Aren’t we clever? Wanted to let you know I miss you on the link party. I wish you a wonderful Christmas, It must be beautiful there. Hugs, Pat
Hi Pat! I’m so glad you stopped buy–I promise you I was just wondering about you the other day and hoping things were going well. I miss quite a handful of “partyers” from my Vintage Charm days, so I’m super happy about your visit. I’ll be popping over to say “Hey” soon 🙂
Diana, I found another use for the elastic tops of the PJ bottoms; they also make great skirts for 18″ dolls–any length! Unfortunately, our grands are outgrowing dolls. I even made pockets smaller in some of them. Lightweight material can be trimmed with lace or rick-rack, too! Some waistbands can even be trimmed down to make great stretchy headbands!