DIY Embroidered Pillows

We moved to our home about a year ago and I’m finally getting around to setting up the outdoor living spaces. We are outside often and I’m usually out there working when I can. When I saw the Summer collection by Shannon Roberts #80279, I knew I wanted to jazz up these spaces with some DIY home decor. I made a simple pillow pattern and a fabric bin. These would also be great framed for wall art or even on garments.

Get the details below and make your own:

Supplies

OESD’s Summer by Shannon Roberts #80279
18″ squares of medium weight fabric (1 front, 1 back)
Ultra Clean & Tear Stabilizer
Isacord Thread
5″ x 7″ hoop

Instructions

Cut out your pillow pattern. You will need a front and a back. My squares are 18″ x 18″. I’m using a James Thompson Cotton Duck. I love this fabric for embroidery and pillows. It has a soft touch and a medium weight for dense embroidery patterns. For the back of the pillow, I am using a medium weight denim and a striped cotton duck.

Stabilize the back of your front piece. I first pressed a lightweight fusible interfacing (Pellon) made for garments on the back. This helps with the overall sturdiness of the pillow and embroidery. I got this tip from Joanne Banko who is a pro at machine embroidery and sewing. I then used a medium weight tear away stabilizer (Ultra Clean & Tear).

The fabric pin was a tutorial I did here. Just omit the handles and alter the dimensions to be more long and narrow. I used the same white cotton duck. I then stuck a flower pot inside. These are cute for gifts too!

Because the largest embroidery area I have on my sewing machine is 5″ x7″ I embroidered into sections. The key is just making sure everything is even when you are hooping. I like to press a line down the center front of the fabric and center side forming a cross. This way I’m able to hoop evenly and center the embroidery design as well. You can use a fabric marking tool as well if you’re worried about a fold in the fabric from pressing.

The collection does have a jumbo pattern you can embroider if you have a large enough hoop. I could resize the design to make it smaller but I wanted a large design on the pillow.

Once you’ve stabilized and hooped the front piece you are ready to embroider away…

Re-hoop for the top section again just making sure everything is centered and visually even.

Give it a good pressing, remove the jump stitches, and the tear away stabilizer. I also did another pillow with the same technique. I first did the ballon and then the lettering.