I know it's a little late to be posting my Mother's Day project, but, ahem, I just finished it today. LOL! I haven't seen my mother lately so I knew I could procrastinate. However, since I will be seeing her later this afternoon, I figured I should probably finish. NOW. :)Anyway, I am so happy with how it turned out that I am going to post my project step-by-step in case anyone else wants to try this too. The instructions I am sharing are how I made my project. Tweak sizes and shapes to customize your pillow.
Materials:
9" doily
2 pieces of fabric 17" X 17"
embroidery floss in 2 colors
embroidery hoop, if needed
embroidery needle
marking pencil or light colored crayon
16" X 16" pillow form
16" zipper
matching thread
pinking sheers (or scissors)
sewing machine
usual sewing supplies
IMPORTANT NOTES FIRST
Doily
First, I made the Petite Pineapple Doily, which measured about 9" across when blocked. Here is my Ravelry project on the doily, if you need hook sizes and thread used.
Fabric
I used a thin-wale corduroy that was already in my stash. BONUS! It had a bit of stretch to it, but was still sturdy, which allowed me to do the embroidery sans hoop.
Embroidery Stitches
If you are not familiar with embroidery, here are some links to the actual stitches I used: chain stitch (darker green color) and the back stitch (lighter green). Simple stitches, but very effective. It's a little hard to embroider on such a thick fabric, but it was worth it.
OK - on to the step by step...
- Place doily in desired location on right side of one piece of your fabric. Use cotton thread to tack doily into place.
- Use crayon or fabric pencil to draw an outline of the leaves and/or stem.
- Using desired stitches, embroider to cover outline.
- Determine the orientation you would like for your zipper. Take one piece of fabric and lay it out with the wrong side facing you, in the direction you want your zipper to go. Fold down fabric toward you (wrong side to wrong side) about 1/2" wide. Pin in place as needed.
- Using your sewing machine (or by hand, if you are up for the challenge), stitch down hem at 1/4" from the edge. Repeat on the second piece of fabric, making sure that any print or bias, etc. is lined up with the first piece sewn.
- With right side facing, pin along hemline, joining fabric and zipper. Stitch in place along existing hemline. Repeat for second piece.
- With right sides together, stitch at 1/2" along remaining three sides of pillow case. Make sure that you keep the zipper open a bit. Otherwise you will have a very tough time turning the pillow case inside out. Ask me how I know. Go on, ask. :)
- Use the pinking sheers to cut the corners at 45 degree angles to eliminate the bulk of fabric, and also cut along all three sewn edges.
- Turn pillow case inside out and use the crayon, or some other blunt object, to push out the corners and make sure they look nice.
- Insert pillow form and close zipper.
- Admire your handiwork!
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| Step 2 |
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| Step 3 - Chain Stitch |
