My latest project has truly been a labor of love. I brought two things together that make me very happy: sewing and French Bulldogs. If you have read any of my previous posts, you know that I am learning how to digitize in my embroidery software. Although it has been a journey, I think I am starting to see some success.
For these projects, I started with a picture of a French bulldog that I got from the internet. I made sure I used one that was free for use from the public domain. I pulled it into my software and hand digitized the image. If you have done any digitizing you know that any design can be challenging, but animals are unique because of their fur.
I did a second French bulldog that resembles Jean Luc. Once I had both dog images the way I liked them, I added other elements and text around.
I decided to embroider both designs on duck fabric. I was really pleased with how they turned out. In the digitizing, I wanted to see if I could reduce the amount of jump stitches and keep the density down so the sewn out designs would stay soft. It has become kind of like a game to see if you can retain the best qualities of the design while reducing stiches and time to complete.
I had some beautiful decorator weight fabric and ribbon that helped complete the pillow wraps. These are a really great way to change the look of a pillow for seasons.
I cut the decorator fabric about 2 inches larger than the embroidered front, tacked the ribbons to the front with a basting stitch and then wrapped the decorator fabric toward the front with a 1/2 inch bound edge mitering the corners. Then I sewed an overcast stitch all around the perimeter of the wrapped edge.
For a 14 inch square finished pillow wrap, the decorator fabric was cut 16 inches square. I also made sure that my ribbons would be long enough to go around larger pillows so each one of them was cut to 24 inches. That means the pillow wraps could also be used on a chair back.
This picture shows one of them on my sewing chair. This would be a great gift for someone in an office that wanted to have a little personalization. You could also use something like these on your dining chairs.
These pillow wraps were not difficult to put together and the possibilities are endless. With the decorator fabric on the back and the way the ribbons are sewn into the seams, they are completely reversible. I hope you have enjoyed this post, share what you have learned and are generous with what you make. Someone will appreciate your hard work.
