Christmas is a little more than 150 days away, so it's not too early to start making handmade crafts. A great way to upcycle plastic bags you get from the grocery store, is by using them as stuffing for decorative pillows.
For this particular pillow, I made the lower Michigan peninsula, which as we all know, is shaped kind of like a mitten.
Supplies: (but you can tweak this any way you like, it's your craft)
- printed picture to trace of lower peninsula (found mine online to print off or just eyeball it)
- two larger pieces of felt (upholstery fabric works great, too!)
- scissors
- large needle and sewing floss (works best and gives it a rustic look; you want to see stitching)
- at least 8 plastic bags, you may use less
Trace the lower peninsula onto separate pieces of material, keep in mind that you don't want to see the marker when you cut them out. I cut out a little bit away from the marker line and just trim it. If you want to put a heart on the fabric, showing where someone lives, you'll want to do that before you sew them together.
Next, start stitching up around the outside but don't stitch it all the way shut; you'll then leave a hole to start filling your pillow with the plastic bags. Once you have the desired fluffiness, stitch it shut.
