"Revive" Those Pillows!

Have your pillows gone flat? New pillows can be expensive. Instead, give the old ones new life! Follow these directions and photos to make them (almost) new again! This is "Sew-easy"!


I have recently gotten some pillows out of storage, and most of them have seen better days! I like a lot of "pillowing" on my beds, so I started counting to see how many I would need. I bought some new ones for sleeping pillows, but I decided to wash the remainder for shams and extras. 

I started with this decorative pillow that was bought at a Craft Shop several years ago. I washed it with a load of laundry in my front loading washing machine and dried it in the dryer. Washing removed the stains, but the pillow dried funny! It was bulged, lumpy, and uneven. It would need to be re-stuffed!



The seam to close the opening was hand-stitched, so I carefully removed the stitches with my seam ripper. My granddaughter Mia and I took the stuffing out and pulled it apart. She then re-stuffed it. Now it is even and so soft!



I  then pinned the opening together. I tried to machine stitch it, but now the pillow was too fat! I sewed it with needle and thread instead.

It's done, and it looks like new!

Next, I started washing the bed pillows, 2 x 2!

Here's my directions:

• Check the label to see if the pillow is washable.
• Wash in cold water in a front loader washer on Delicate or Casual.
• Use an Extended Spin or Extra Spin.
• Wash 2 Standard size or 1 King size at a time.
• Dry in the dryer with at least 3 Tennis Balls or Dryer Balls.
• You may need to do 2 or more dryer cycles. 
• Optional: If it is still slightly damp, let set overnight to air dry.

I followed my directions, but some pillows that said "Washable" ended up like the pillow below when dried in the dryer. On one end, the stuffing was matted together and sort of hard. The other end was flat.

That's when it is time for Plan B!

Use a seam ripper to open one side of the pillow about 6". The opening should be long enough for your fist to go through.

Matted stuffing!

Remove the stuffing one handful at a time. When all stuffing is removed, pull it apart until it is light and fluffy.

This is a great way to de-stress!

Starting with the corners, carefully put the stuffing back in the pillow. It is amazing how different the pillow looks now!

This is a great project to do while watching TV!

Be careful because the pillow covering opening may tear easily! Granddaughter Mia found this out!

 Turn the edges under and pin the pillow covering edges back together.

Machine stitch or hand-stitch the opening closed.

The pillow is revived!

Special thanks to Granddaughter Mia for helping with the pillow stuffing!

Granddaughter Mia stuffs a pillow!

Finally, you can insert your pillow into a pillow case or sham. 

1 done; 1 to go!

If you have extra "old looking" pillows, the stuffing can be used to stuff bean bags chairs. Yes, we have done that, too!

Now, go put some new life into those old pillows!  Happy stuffing!

Sweet Dreams!