Boudoir Pillow

“I love opening my great grandmother’s cedar-lined hope chest and examining the delicately embroidered baby clothes. Because I love the embroidery and I have neither the time nor the patience to recreate it by hand, I like digitizing similar designs using my MBX software.

I wanted to recreate what the September 1916 Needlecraft magazine calls a “boudoir pillow”. It looks very much like the pram pillow embroidered by my grandmother in 1916 for my uncle. 

My version is a bit sturdier and is embroidered on a heavier weight cotton. By using a wing needle in the machine embroidery process, I was able to emulate my grandmother’s hemstitching. 

My pillow was embroidered on the Janome Horizon Memory Craft 15000 using the grand hoop.” – Janome Artisan Milinda Stephenson 

Janome Supplies Required

  • Janome Horizon Memory Craft 15000, 14000 or 12000
  • Two pieces of cotton fabric – 20″ x 15″ for the pillow’s front and back (pillow front piece needs to be starched and pressed).
  • One machine embroidery needle
  • One wing needle
  • Embroidery thread
  • Wash away stabilizer

Instructions

Click here to download the .JEF file.

Step 1:

  • Hoop starch and press the 20″ x 15″ cotton along with stabilizer.
  • Using a regular machine embroidery needle, sew color 1 – white embroidery.

Step 2:

  • Change to the wing needle and sew color 2 – hem stitched outline.

Step 3: 

  • Lay the second 20″ x 15″ over the hoop and stitch color 3 – sew down stitch for the pillow back.
  • Remove it from the hoop. Turn right side out and remove the stabilizer.

Finishing:

  • You may simply stuff the pillow with fiberfill and hand sew the opening closed.
  • You may also add a ruffle: Prior to step 3 and sewing color 3, create a ruffle on your sewing machine or serger and tape around the outer edges of the hemstitching with the outside of the ruffle facing in. 

 

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