madebyjoey: DIY: nautical embroidered pillows

My weekend project turned into a couple of weekends but I am quite happy with the results! The pile of fabric turned into some new "nautical" pillow covers for our living room.

fabric

The top 2 canvases and navy blue corduroy I found at a Thrift Store for a few dollars. The check fabric I've had in my stash for years and thought it was time to put it to use. The pillows are from Ikea.

I always sew our cushions with an envelope style closure at the back so the larger pillows were done in a couple of hours.

Here's how I made the small embroidered pillow.

supplies

Navy blue embroidery floss and hoop also found at a Thrift Store.

Nautical Compass design found here.

You will also need some circles to trace around (I used bowls), a ruler, pencil and scissors to snip your threads.

draw on image

Using the round bowls and a ruler I drew out a Nautical Compass design using the printed image as a guideline.

set up

I have put my canvas fabric into the embroidery hoop and am now ready to embroider the design. I did the entire piece using a back stitch.

embroidery finished

The front of the pillow is now finished so I have cut two pieces of corduroy to make a simple envelope style pillow case. Zig zag stitch or serge the edges and turn it inside out.

Finished!
It took a total of 3.5 hours to make.

Here's my son reading about the Titanic in a National Geographic magazine, how fitting!

I enjoyed making the little embroidered pillow so much I immediately started a second pillow in the darker canvas with a lighthouse design. It's still in the works but I will let you know how it turns out.

Thanks for stopping by!