Saturday, June 18, 2011

Vintage Needlework Pillow

When a friend of mine received this awesome piece of vintage needlework for her birthday we all looked at it and said "pillow!" She had just finished her guest bedroom makeover and the vintage piece fit in with the color scheme perfectly. Take a look at the end result. Super sweet & SIMPLE!
I will try to link this up to some of my favorite parties this week, here

Collecting materials for the pillow was easy! We used muslin for the backing (it matched the color of the needlework fabric the best and seemed to be almost the same weight) and some old sheets that had this to die for ruffled edging...
 ...the piece of vintage needlework measured just shy of 18 x 18, which couldn't have been more perfect.
One of the standard pillow forms you can purchase is 18 x 18 inches exactly...

Using the square piece of needlework for a template, I cut the muslin for the backing, adding extra for the seam allowance. Then I cut the ruffled edge off of the sheets...

...Next I pinned the ruffle, needlework and backing all together. ( I cut my muslin to allow for a tuck in flap on the reverse side of the pillow...sorry I forgot to take a photograph of this.) Here are some photographs BEFORE I added a little something SWEET & SIMPLE!










..Lastly, I wanted to add a little dimension...( I just have too! ) ...and since I LOVE shabby flowers, I made one using some pretty white on white floral fabric and some beautiful, wispy organza I had in my stash. A touch of muslin to make a little rosette for the center, and a brooch clasp on the back so she can remove it from the cover for washing...(or wearing!)
To make the flower, I just stripped some fabric, ruffled each layer on the machine and stitched it all together! Super easy and the end result is sheer sweetness!








2 comments:

Sandi Keene said...

Rae- it is so sweet! Love it!

eleven-o-one said...

You have some really great ideas! Love the pillow & the cards. I'm your newest follower and will be browsing around your site for inspiration. Thanks for visiting my site.
fran @ www.eleven-o-one.blogspot.com

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