During the winter, especially when the days are not fit for going outside, I like to stay in and create. Embroidering is something that is easy to do and the possibilities are endless. I’ve created this fun and easy Valentine pillow and wanted to share it with you!
Gather your materials.
I usually embroider on light colored materials, often muslin or something similar. When I do that, I always put a liner under the light colored material so the dark thread won’t show through. So for this pillow, I used the following:
–Red stripe ticking fabric
-muslin
-thin cotton batting (or thin light colored felt, or even 2 layers of fabric)
-dark red embroidery floss
-various buttons
–size 12″ x 22″ pillow form
–downloadable pattern
disappearing ink pen, embroidery hoop, sewing machine, matching thread, needle, scissors, iron
Print out the pattern onto paper. For the size of my pillow, I printed on legal sized paper (8.5 x 14″), but you can choose to print it out at any size, making the pillow smaller or larger.
Prepare your pieces
To fit the pillow form that I have suggested, you will need to cut out the following from your material:
2-pcs 13″ tall x 23″ wide of red ticking fabric
1-pc 7 1/2″ tall x 23″ wide from each muslin and batting
Embroider
Lay the muslin over the embroidery pattern, centering the word on the fabric. Using the disappearing ink pen, transfer markings to the fabric. Now line up the fabric and batting and get ready to embroider by securing one end into an embroidery hoop. Cut a length of red embroidery floss and thread all six strands onto a needle. Use a straight stitch and follow your drawn lines to create the word Love, moving the embroidery hoop along the fabric as necessary.
Once done with the embroidery, remove any markings with water if necessary and allow to dry. Iron the fabric piece to remove any wrinkles.
Line up buttons along the heart as you desire. Using all-purpose thread, fasten buttons down by stitching through all layers and all holes on the buttons.
Assemble the pillow
First we’ll sew the muslin fabric to the front side of one of the ticking pieces. I chose to leave raw edges on this piece. Line up the muslin with the ticking, centering it from top to bottom and lining up the short edges. Make a scant 1/4″ seam down both long edges of the muslin to attach it to the ticking.
Next, lay the ticking pieces right sides together. Line up and pin all edges together. Starting on the bottom edge about 3 inches from a corner, sew 1/2″ around the raw edges. You will be leaving an opening in the bottom for turning and inserting your pillow form. Make sure to back up to secure your ends.
Turn your new pillow case right-side out, pushing at the corners to square them off. Gently inside your pillow inside the case, adjusting to get a snug fit all around. turn the raw edges at the bottom in 1/2″ and pin. Using a straight stitch or invisible stitch, sew up the bottom edge.
Enjoy!
