Help break my fall.

March 23, 2007 4:13 PM

Where can I buy the most throw pillows for the least amount of money?

I want to buy a whole bunch of big soft pillows or cushions.

Requirements:

1. Price: cheap! I can buy rink-a-dink pillows at bargain outlets here in my neighborhood for about $8 apiece. If I wanted ten of them, that's $80 plus tax. Unacceptable! If I was to spend that much cash, they'd have to be bigger and better.

2. Quality: low, they are for sitting on the floor. They don't have to be attractive, but they shouldn't be disgusting. No secondhand. I can make my own covers for them.

3. Size/shape: no preference. The larger the better.


Perhaps you know a place? Perhaps you work somewhere where you can get me a discount (you will be rewarded)? Or know someone who does? Or have some sort of creative solution?

posted by hermitosis to shopping (15 comments total)

Goodwill? I think there are also cheap $5 pillows at Ikea. They're pretty comfy, too.
posted by Geckwoistmeinauto at 4:22 PM on March 23, 2007

Freecycle is made for stuff like that.
posted by kmennie at 4:23 PM on March 23, 2007

No secondhand.

Oops.

(Post your 'wanted' at Xmas, then. But half of the ones in the bag of throw pillows in my storage room, waiting for Freecycling, are fairly unused...)
posted by kmennie at 4:24 PM on March 23, 2007

Throw a "Make Me A Throw Pillow" party.
Invite 10 friends.
Buy the batting (cheap!).
Buy some fabric on Canal Street (cheap!).
Provide munchies and beer and thread (cheap!).
Everyone makes two: one for them, one for you.
Voila! Everyone wins!
(please invite me.)
posted by Dizzy at 4:25 PM on March 23, 2007

After I had surgery a couple years ago I needed a whole mess of pillows. I bought some super cheap full size bed pillows at Target (I think) for around $4 each. I don't know if they still carry them. Heck, I think I still have a couple somewhere. They really were quite low in quality.
posted by FlamingBore at 4:31 PM on March 23, 2007

Buy pillow forms at a fabric store or on-line; make covers.
posted by The corpse in the library at 5:05 PM on March 23, 2007

Ditto on the pillow forms. Joann's has them, but the larger ones are more than $8. I have such poor sewing skills I'm still trying to figure out how to make covers for the ones I bought.
posted by peep at 5:11 PM on March 23, 2007

Sorry, the "no secondhand" is strict, considering NYC's bedbug epidemic. Unless the offer comes specifically from an actual MeFite who is willing to show me their torso as proof.

The pillow-forms idea is good, and I already asked this a while back which may help.

Love the party idea for future reference, but I may need them sooner than that.

For covers I'd probably just buy cheep-o pillowcases and convert them. Thanks folks, keep the ideas coming!
posted by hermitosis at 5:28 PM on March 23, 2007

I love this idea for sew-less pillow making, it would adapt really well to large pillows.

For large floor pillows, you are better off using shredded foam or bean bag pellets than polyfill (such as what's inside pillowforms). They are both cheaper/volume and will support weight better without permanently flattening out. You can also use styrofoam packing peanuts* (not the kind made out of starch, the other kind) as a filler if the fabric you choose is something thicker like fleece. Big box office suppy shops sell giant sacks of styro peanuts for...well, peanuts if for some reason you can't find a free source (isn't everyone forever trying to get rid of these damn things?).

*you dont really want to be sitting on a styropeanut-filled pillow if it happens to catch fire. True, that warning goes for just about anything you might find yourself sitting on, but Official Pillows are often treated with flame retardant. Just be careful where you put your butt(s).
posted by jamaro at 5:49 PM on March 23, 2007

Polyfil (or fiberfil) is $2.99 a bag at Joann's online - a bag is roughly the size & shape of a bed pillow. If you're just buying pillowcases & seaming the edge shut, you shouldn't have a problem transfering over the fil to the pillowcase. (Though, don't wear black. There will be a ton of lint.) That's a little over $30 for ten, not counting the pillowcases.

The bonus of polyfil is that you can stuff the cases to your desired firmness. My other suggestion would be to do two layers of pillowcases - sew the first one shut and then do some sort of closure on the second, so that you can take it off and wash it. Especially if you're sitting on the floor.
posted by librarianamy at 5:53 PM on March 23, 2007

IKEA
posted by sgobbare at 6:27 PM on March 23, 2007

My family used throw pillows instead of couches. We always got our 2ftx2ft or larger ones from Pier One. I dunno how much they cost, but they weren't too overly priced for the quality.
posted by nursegracer at 7:13 PM on March 23, 2007

Ikea for sure. Ikea has pillows that aren't even made out of fabric - they're a sort of pressed fibre I don't know the name of. You can very likely get pillows at Ikea for $3 or so if you aren't too fussy. I would bet you can't get second hand for less, and I'm sure you can't make them for less.
posted by crabintheocean at 8:12 PM on March 23, 2007

If you don't mind sewing a couple more seams, buy saris for the covers. A cheap, poly-blend (but new, gorgeous, and in any color combination you can dream of) sari will set you back $20-25 -- that's ten yards of material.
posted by Methylviolet at 9:09 PM on March 23, 2007

Oops -- correction: they are not all ten yards. Between five and ten yards of material.
posted by Methylviolet at 9:13 PM on March 23, 2007 [1 favorite]