Easter Paper Piecing Pillow Tutorial - Part 2

 

This is Part 2 of this tutorial for this cute Easter pillow cover.  In Part 1, we went through the paper piecing process and made the pillow cover.  In this Part 2, I'll show you how to embellish your "eggs" with applique, trim and hand embroidery.

At the end of Part 1, the eggs were ironed onto the pillow cover with stabilizer, like this:

For the first three eggs, I appliqued around the perimeter with my sewing machine using a zig-zag stitch.  I used regular cotton thread on the green outline and a shiny embroidery thread on the pink and blue outlines.  This is also called a satin stitch.

 

You may have to find the setting on your sewing machine that works best for you, but I used a zig-zag with a width of 3.5 and a length of .4 (that is the first and second numbers when making adjustments on your machine).  Stitch in a clockwise direction around the curves.  You can see I still need a bit of practice perfecting keeping the stitch smooth, but just take your time and stop frequently (about every 5-6 stitches) to slightly adjust the fabric so you can keep a continuous stitch around the egg.  You also want to be sure your needle is on the outside of the egg when you turn the fabric as it curves.

For trims I used bits of lace and ric-rac sewn on over the seams.  I also did some hand embroidery.  I used little Xs on the egg below and a flower design with little French knots in the center.  You can find lots of basic embroidery instructions on Pinterest and You Tube.  It just takes a little practice and patience.  I strongly recommend using an embroidery hoop to hold your fabric tight while hand stitching.

The chick was the most fun to create.  I started by attaching the body and head with a satin stitch in gold cotton thread.  

Then I hand stitched the eyes and beak with embroidery floss. If you are not comfortable doing this free hand, you can use a pencil or water-soluble pencil to draw the eyes and beak on the fabric.  It will get covered with the stitches.

I found some fun tiny pom-pom trim that I hand sewed to the egg openings.  Finally, I created another kind of satin stitch by hand, using embroidery floss to attach the bottom and top of the egg.  I use 3 strands of embroidery floss on this size of project. 

Once you are completely done with embellishing your eggs, you can choose to lay another thin piece of fabric over the back of the pillow cover to cover the backside of the stitching and protect it better during washing.  You are then ready to finish creating the pillow cover, using the directions from my Envelope Pillow.

And that's it!  Paper piecing and applique are such fun techniques, I'm sure I will be doing more.  If you are interested in the pattern pieces for the eggs, subscribe to emails from PRETTY HOME THREADS and then email me at prettyhomethreads@gmail.com and I'll be happy to send you the pdf files for FREE.  (A reward for my subscribers!)

Happy Easter!

cindy