Soft ·N Pretty Pillow

This cozy pillow couldn’t be softer! Eskimo fleece makes the difference. The embroidery gives the pillow its very own charm. The embroidery is easy using your machine’s embroidery capabilities.

Supplies needed:

• Two 18" squares Pellon® fleece
• 14" pillow form
• 1/2 yd. cut-away stabilizer
• 1-1/4 yd. wash-away stabilizer
• 1 yd. 3" wide paper stabilizer
• Rayon machine embroidery thread

• The Fine Line Water Erasable Marking Pen
• Flower Head Pins
• 4" Curved Embroidery Scissors
• 6" x 24" ruler
• Cutting mat and rotary cutter
• Prewound bobbins
• All-purpose sewing thread to match fleece

• Mark centered axis lines on fleece.
• Mark 2" inside all four edges for flange stitching lines.
• Mark corner guidelines 1" inside the flange stitching lines. Draw lines only 3" to 4" long.

2. Embroider the center motif.

• Center one square of cut-away stabilizer on the wrong side of the marked fleece; center a square of the wash-away stabilizer on the right side of the fabric.

• Hoop the center portion of the marked fleece, aligning axis lines with the markings on the embroidery hoop.

• Set up machine for embroidery following the owner’s manual. In addition:
  • Insert a machine embroidery needle.
  • Thread machine with rayon embroidery thread.
  • Insert a prewound bobbin in the bobbin case.
  • Insert an embroidery card into the slot. Select design. We used design #15 on Pfaff Creative Fantasy Card #41 and enlarged it to 96 mm x 100 mm.
  

• Center the design using the framing screen.
• Embroider the design.

• Remove the fabric from the hoop. Remove outer areas of both stabilizers from the embroidery.

• Pin mark the flange stitching lines on the right side of the pillow using Flower Head Pins.

• Place pillow wrong side up. Pin a square of cut-away stabilizer to the fleece at one corner of the pillow, overlapping the pins by about 1". Pin stabilizer to fleece in the corners of the stabilizer.

• Turn the fleece right side up. Remove the marking pins and position a wash-away stabilizer over one corner of the fleece. Hoop the fleece and both stabilizers, leaving approximately 1/2" to 3/4" between guidelines and the inside edge of the hoop.

• Select desired design. (We chose #18 for the corners.) Position the design in the corner, within the corner guidelines.
• Embroider the design.

• Repeat, embroidering design in the remaining three corners.
• Remove excess stabilizers from the embroideries using the 4" Curved Embroidery Scissors.

• Turn off the machine; remove Embroidery Unit.
• Mark lines on each edge of the pillow between the corner bows, 1-1/2" inside the flange stitching line.

• Center a strip of Stitch 'N Ditch on the wrong side of the pillow, over the marked lines.
• Select a built-in embroidery stitch. (We used stitch #157 on the Pfaff 7570.) Stitch each of the four sides.

• Remove the paper stabilizer.

• Adjust the sewing machine for standard straight stitching. Raise the feed dogs. Thread the machine with all-purpose thread.
• If necessary, square the pillow top.
• Layer the pillow front and back, wrong sides together; pin. Stitch along the marked flange stitching line, beginning about 2" before a corner.
• Stitch around all four corners, ending stitching 2" after turning final corner.

• Insert pillow form; pin along open stitching line.
• Stitch the pillow closed.