Boho Jeans Pillows With Upcycled Sari Trim and Pom Poms
The trouble with staying in gorgeous accommodation whilst on holiday, my home looks knackered on returning.
It seems too cluttered, tired looking and a lot of it in desperate need of redecoration.
The solution is to either go on camping holidays so that I appreciate my home comforts more or to tackle the house. As I hate camping it will have to be the house.
So I made a pathetic start by chucking out a load of very old and worn throw pillows. And then I used up some of my craft stashes and made some fresh replacement boho style jeans pillows.
I’m a bit of a craft hoarder. As well piles of fabric and old jeans I have a large stash of yarn.
Every time, I catch a glance of my yarn pile in the craft room I feel that it is mocking me for being a terrible knitter and average crocheter. I’m now just resorted to using my yarn to make pom poms.
As well as recycling jeans and using more yarn to make pom poms, I used some vintage sari trim. I found the trim in my craft stash, I had totally forgotten about it. The sari trim was just what I needed to give the jeans pillows that boho feel.
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Vintage sari trims are gorgeous strips of brightly coloured and embroidered fabric that were used to adorn lovely Indian saris. I know you may be thinking where on earth do I get sari trim. As with most things it’s actually really easy to find on eBay and Amazon.
What you need to make upcycled boho jeans pillows
- Old denim jeans
- Vintage Sari trim – As I’ve already said this readily available to buy on eBay and Amazon. You will need a piece of trim about 90cm length for each jeans pillow.
- Colourful yarn to match your trim
- Pom pom maker kit
- Needle, thread and 30cm (12″) zip
- Pillow insert – I used a 65cm X 45cm (16″ x 26″) Ikea fjadrar insert
How to make Boho Jeans Pillows
- Each pillow side was made up of 3 panels of fabric (6 in total). The width vintage sari trim will vary from piece to piece. To start with I measured the width of the sari trim and then calculated the width of denim I would need either side. Don’t forget to allow for a seam allowance.
- For the front of the pillow pin 2 pieces of denim and 1 piece of sari trim right sides together and then sew. Repeat for the back of the pillow.
- Lay both the pillow sides (front and back) and then sew in a zip to join them.
If you are not sure about how to sew a zip into a pillow there is a video tutorial here. - Next pin the rest of the pillow both sides together leaving the newly attached zipper open.
- Prefreably using a sewing machine, sew the pillow sides together. Then turn the cushion cover right sides out and add the feather insert.
- Finish off by making multi colour giant pom poms with your pom pom maker and hand sew one on to each corner of the pillow. To get the mixed coloured effect just wind different coloured yarn in bands around the pom pom maker.
I’m really pleased with how these pillows/cushions turned out. I just love the fact that they are made from recycled jeans but are still so colourful. The only thing is I can’t quite decide where to have them in my home. I think I will need to make some more.
I’m also really pleased that I found a use for the gorgeous vintage sari trim I bought on a whim a couple of years ago.
For more homemade pillow ideas visit favcrafts.com
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Another fantastic idea! I love the pop of color the sari and pom poms give the jeans! Great idea! 🙂 Lisa
Thank you Lisa. That was the plan to bring a bit of colour to the denim.
Wow is there anything you can’t do? These look so so pretty! Thank you for linking up to #HomeEtc X
Thank you so much. Denim is one of my favourite things to upcycle.
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You are a wizard when it comes to recycling jeans. These boho pillows are adorable. Thank you for sharing at Snickerdoodle. I am featuring your pillows at Snickerdoodle tommorow.
Thank you Sharon. Not sure about wizard, but obsessed with recycling jeans, yes I’m guilty of that.
My former daughter-in-law is Indian and she gifted my granddaughter with lots of her niece’s beautiful outfits complete with lots of sari trim to play dress up. My granddaughter has outgrown them and they’re taking up space in a closet. I need to channel my inner Claire and get busy with some of that trim. The pillows are gorgeous and thanks for the inspiration and for joining us at Celebrate Your Story.
Thank you Sandra. You could combine the old trim with their jeans they have outgrown too to make some special pillows.
[…] BoHo Jean Pillow: Pillar Box Blue […]
thank you for sharing your awesome craftiness at TFT. You were pinned and featured. Hugs!
Thank you, Katherine. I look forward to seeing the feature.
Thanks for sharing this with us at the To Grandma’s house we go link party! I’ll be featuring on my site tomorrow morning when the new party starts!
Thank you, that’s great I look forward to seeing it.
These cushions are beautiful. I love working with sari fabric, I must warn you it doesn’t wear like denim though. We have a cushion cover I made a few years ago from a charity shop purchase sari and it’s starting to wear in a few patches now. Luckily I have a little more so I’m just going to make up another one. It’s one of my favourite cushions! It might be that my teens are just a bit rough with the cushions in our house though!
Thank you, Julie. I will bear that in mind. That is why I used the trim of sari as this tended to be the thicker fabric as it was the edging and hopefully more robust. They are holding up very well so far but let’s just wait and see.
Great idea!
thank you!
You are the queen of jeans refashioning, Claire. Such fun and colourful cushions – and sturdy, too. I’ve featured your tutorial today…
Ah that’s awesome, thank you so much Pam.
Boho always brings me back to my teenage years. I love all the bright colour and laid back attitude of your cushions. Very very pretty and cheerful.
Thank you Leanna. I do love a bit of bright colour. My mums house was very Boho in the seventies lots of macrame hanging plants and colour.
How fun, Claire! Thank you for sharing @ Vintage Charm!
Thank you so much Cecilia.
I’ll be adding this to the projects for old denim jeans I’ve got in my mental list. LOVE the bright colors of the sari trims and the pom poms you added.
Thank you Ann, I can’t resist a pop of colour.
I hate camping too. I did it once when I was 19 and never again. The sari trims work so well with the denim. The pillows turned out lovely and cheerful, Claire!
Thank you Julia. The thing is I’m supposed to like camping as I’m a Beaver scout leader so shh don’t tell anyone I actually don’t like it.
Love, love, love. The way the hard wearing denim contrasts with the soft, embroidered sari trim is stunning. So completely my style Claire
Thank you Michelle. The idea was to soften the denim by combining with the trim.
these are so cute! Love the color and pompoms, you are a genius with denim 🙂
Thank you Susanne. 8 couldn’t believe how lucky I was when I found yarn in my stash that matched the colours in the sari trim.
Those are super fun and you can really customize them for any color scheme or style decor you want. You are so creative 🙂
Thank you Toni. The sari trim comes in loads of colours nd styles so you should find one to suit your decor.
This is so incredibly cute! I love how you have combined such beautiful colors! I’ll have to check out Amazon for supplies. Btw, I’m a hoarder of ribbon!
Thank you Janine. My collection of ribbon isn’t that big but my washi tape collection on the other hand is pretty impressive,
Such a clever idea Claire!! I love the bright happy colours!! It amazes me with all of the clever things you make with denim. So creative!!!
Thank you Sam. I have a big stash of denim to get through so that’s partly why I keep on thinking of things to make from old jeans, plus I love indigo.
These pillows are so pretty!!
Thank you so much Lea.
Very cool, Claire! Love the addition of the pom poms and the silk scarf. Visiting from Welcome Home Wednesday party.
Thank you Victoria, they are vintage sari trims I’d almost forgotten about.
Love what you do with old jeans. x
Thank you, I just love recycling jeans. I’m always looking for new things to do with denim.
Very nice! I love these pillows.😊
Thank you so much 😊