Barbie Clothes & Their Many Uses
As promised, here is an actual photo of an actual thing! The pillow is on a wool felt background, and I've used a Barbie sweater and pants that I cut in half. That way, I can get more than one pillow out of them!
She is wearing go-go boots (like my kindergarten teacher Miss Silver used to do), and the felted wool balls on the sides are from Magic Cabin. This pillow has a poly-fill insert.
The yarn hair has been attached to the pillow background in a method called "couching". The term "couching" comes from the French verb coucher, which means "to lie down". I learned that li'l factoid from an inspiring book I have called Second Time Cool, The Art of Chopping Up a Sweater.
Here's a close-up so you can see the hair stitching (you can click on the images to see them larger):
The blush on her cheeks and at her knuckles was achieved by putting a little bit of "real" blush on a cotton swab and gently applying it. Her eyes are stitched on beads.
Hope this inspires you to hack up YOUR old doll clothes! :-)
That is just fantastic. I love the hair especially!
Posted by: amy | February 14, 2006 at 02:41 PM
Hey, I'd hack up all my clothes if I could make a pillow like that! How about I send you my clothes and you make me pillows? What could I trade for such a service?
Posted by: Tongue in Cheek | February 09, 2006 at 02:35 AM
WOW!
Posted by: Alicia | February 06, 2006 at 11:40 AM
way WAY better then Barbie :)
Posted by: Ayelet | February 03, 2006 at 09:14 PM
OMG! I love it! What a great idea - using old barbie doll clothes. I love your creative ideas - you inspire me to keep creating!
Posted by: stace | February 03, 2006 at 05:54 PM
Well<, Goodness me !
She is far, far prettier than any Barbie I've ever seen, she's gorgeous ! What genius !!!
Posted by: lyn | February 03, 2006 at 04:47 PM
What a great idea! And you made it extra-extra-cute. The hair is fabulous!
Posted by: *jenny | February 03, 2006 at 09:58 AM
Adding a felted pillow to my to do list... love the recycling of the doll clothes, too.
Posted by: Amanda Lee | February 02, 2006 at 08:41 PM
Eeeeeeeeee! I can't get over how fabulous your pillow is!! And I totally agree with the other commenters... that hair is so fabulous!!
Posted by: wilsonian | February 02, 2006 at 05:35 PM
Megan, it's fab. Just love it loads. I want one. I'd have to sew it on the machine, though! xx
Posted by: Kate | February 02, 2006 at 01:56 PM
Love the boots and the hair looks like mine..LOL
I have been telling my daughter that she need to keep her doll stuff picked up or I'm getting rid of them, I now know what to do with them....~grin~
Posted by: gina L | February 02, 2006 at 11:08 AM
Great pillow, Megan! really! Are you sure those aren't Napoleon Dynamite moon boots, though? She really has that Medusa thing going on too. Next time I'm in Home Depot I'll ask for a skein of that thick n thin yarn stuff... it has many possibilities...
Posted by: Doug | February 02, 2006 at 08:08 AM
This is fantastic!! Excellent use of old doll clothes!
Posted by: Rose | February 01, 2006 at 11:18 PM
I have to comment here on this fabulous pillow! It's gorgeous and perfectly done and I love the dreadlocks. Thanks for the tip about the book, I haven't seen that one but will look it up. You've peaked my interest!
Posted by: ~Vicki | February 01, 2006 at 10:53 PM
This is fabulous!!! I love love love that hair!!!! So cool!
Thanks for stopping by! :o)
Posted by: Dawn | February 01, 2006 at 09:51 PM
What a cool idea! (And I would have missed it, if I hadn't resumed my blogrolling!)
Posted by: tinker | February 01, 2006 at 08:03 PM
Wow! Fantastic! I love it :-)
Posted by: mimi k | February 01, 2006 at 08:02 PM
Yup, it's thick & thin yarn, and, silly, silly me: I have thrown away the yarn labels. Suffice it to say: the yarn looks like dreadlocks when it's hanging in skeins!
Posted by: megan | February 01, 2006 at 07:53 PM
So cute! But what is the actual hair fiber? Some kind of thick and thin yarn? I really love this and want to make one!
Posted by: Bettsi | February 01, 2006 at 07:48 PM
ha! i love it. it makes me want to steal my nieces' barbie clothes.
i had a pair of white go go boots when i was in the first grade. i loved them
Posted by: maryse | February 01, 2006 at 06:22 PM
This is unbelievably great! The hair and sweater are my favorite parts. I really love this!
Posted by: Blair | February 01, 2006 at 05:20 PM
This is brilliant. Do you come up with these ideas all on your own? I love that hair!!
Posted by: Joanna | February 01, 2006 at 04:08 PM
Don't ask me why I called you Heather. As soon as I hit send I realized what I had done. Maybe my go-go boots are too tight!
Posted by: autum | February 01, 2006 at 03:35 PM
Thanks Heather! I have several boxes of Barbie clothes in my attic. That would be a neat gift to make for my daughter. A pillow using her old Barbie clothes. Your kindergarten teacher wore go-go boots?
Posted by: autum | February 01, 2006 at 03:34 PM
Wow, really wonderful pillow! And old barbie clothes - that's brilliant!
Posted by: myra | February 01, 2006 at 01:45 PM