Stitch along with me ~

in my last post I shared the finished punching of the little early bird project ~

so now I wanted to finish it into a sawdust stuffed pillow….

I liked how this cream/blue repro calico cotton looks with the thread colors, 

so this was my choice.

to begin, I measure & mark 1"  

from the last punched row on all 4 sides with pencil, 

...on the back of my punched project:

once the weavers cloth is trimmed away to one inch, I lay my backing fabric

(in this case the blue/cream calico) face up on my work table, 

and then place the punched project face down onto that, 

then I trim the backing fabric to the same size as the punched portion's weavers cloth…

(I usually just 'wing it' here, no pinning or measuring,

... just eyeballing & cutting the backing fabric to approx. the same size)

next, I place my front/back project sandwiched pieces under my sewing machine's foot…

with the needle as close as I can get it to the last punched row of the project.

I will now stitch completely around all 4 sides of the project…

staying as close to that last punched row as possible.

( i have a tendency to sometimes 'pick up' a couple of the loops with my machine thread, but that's really not a problem here)

once I've sewn completely around,

I then trim the excess front/backing fabrics to within 1/4" of my machine sewn line.

I'll do this for all 4 sides as well.

...so now it looks like this:

 then I  miter the corners by clipping away the corners a bit…

this really helps to keep your projects corners nice & crisp once you turn the project right side out ~

now I turn the project over to the back, and using small sharp scissors

I cut a slit into just the backing fabric.

(be careful not to catch any of the loops on the front!)

once the slit is cut into the backing fabric,

turn the project right side out and use a wooden dowel or skewer

to poke your corners out nicely…

I use a tablespoon to stuff my projects full of sawdust.

I like to stuff them firmly and very full!

use that dowel again to poke the sawdust into those corners….

once it is stuffed,

hand stitch the opening closed with needle and thread…

I like to cover that with a patch of scrap weavers cloth

that I've signed with a Pigma pen ~

there is usually sawdust clinging to the front of the loops,

so I brush off what I can…

and use my trusty lint-roller for the rest!

quick clean up!!!

I wanted to add an edging to this project, 

so I chose a complimentary cotton calico

and ripped a 2" wide x 28" strip ~ 

(that's what this project calls for)

using needle & thread

I anchored the end of the strip 

to the center bottom of the stuffed project, and rolled the strip as I whip-stitched it on…

... really a neat finish and one that rug hookers might be familiar with!

the fabric roll covers the edge of the project, 

so if you didn't get as close to the edge as you'd have liked with your sewing the front & back together,

 ...this will help to 'hide' it a bit :)

simple and pretty!

whip stitched on with needle & thread….

I

L O V E 

this look!

~ here is a snap of the completed back:

 …and the front!

and here's a little tip about needle punching an eye, 

~ like the one on my bird...

I punch just the white portion, 

then after the project is finished,

 I go back in and using black DMC floss, 

….I make a colonial (or french) knot for the pupil!

ta da!

I hope you've enjoyed stitching along with me!

and that you will try this technique for your projects ~

I'm off to punch some more :)

* Blessed be *

 Lori