Ballerina Pillow Project - Part Nine Finish!

Remember this ballerina pillow project?  I just finished putting the finishing touches on it!

Since my last post on this project, I sewed the front and back together - leaving a small open space and I stuffed the pillow with poly-fill. 

Then I sewed the opening shut:  

Next,  I made three bows out of this velvet ribbon trim. 

I hand sewed them across the top of the pillow:

Here is the finished front:

and the back.  I think it looks good standing up

or lying flat:

I recorded all my floss colors in my embroidery journal.  Looking at this journal page, I am surprised to see I started this little project way back on May 12 2004 :)

Here is the color palette for this project:

Ballerina Pillow Project - Part Eight

The ballerina pillow is just about finished!  The only steps left are filling the pillow and adding the trim.

Since my last post on this project, I put the front and back pillow panels together and determined the final pillow size.  It is going to be approximately 13" x 8".

I pinned the two panels with the right sides together

and then cut off the excess fabric on all four sides.   I sewed the two panels together, leaving about a 2" opening on one edge to turn the pillow right side out. 

Once I fill the pillow, I will hand stitch this gap closed.

My last step will be to embellish the pillow with this beautiful green velvet trim. 

I am really looking forward to finishing this up!

Ballerina Pillow Project - Part Seven

I have an update to my ballerina pillow project.  If you remember from my last post on this project, I was beginning to stitch the motif for the pillow back. 

I have completed all the stitching. I used the fishbone stitch for the leaves, the long and short stitch for the rose, and the stem stitch for the rose outline. 

For the swirly lines, I used the double knot stitch :

Then I added a line of back stitch to each edge of the double knot stitch.   I used green floss on the back stitch to add interest.   Here is a little better view of the green:

Once I finished the stitching, I compared it to the stitching on the piece that will be the pillow front.  They look great together except

I used this rainbow blending filament to add sparkle to the stitching on the ballet costumes.  It really added an extra dimension so I decided to add some of the filament to the back piece too.

Once that was done, my next step was to rinse out all the blue water soluble marker pen lines.

Give it a final pressing with the iron {on the underside!}

After all the wrinkles were ironed out, I snipped off any remaining thread tails:

My next steps will be to sew the back and front pieces together

 

  make a final decision on any trim I am going to add:

and finish the pillow!

Ballerina Pillow Project - Part Six

 I have started on the back panel of the ballerina pillow! 

If you remember from my last post on this project,   I was deciding which motif to use for the back panel.    {You can read my other posts about this project here: {part one} {part two} {part three} {part four} }  

I decided to go with this one - a beautiful rose and some swirly lines. 

I chose this one because it is about the same size vertically as the motif on the front panel. 

To start on the back panel, I first placed the fabric for the back panel over the front panel:

I lined up the two edges and pinned both panels together.  I could see the front panel motif through the fabric so it was easy to center the motif for the back panel both vertically and horizontally.

I made a mark indicating the top edge, middle and the bottom edge as well as the left and right edges of the motif:

Once I had the spacing correct, I taped the motif to my cutting mat and put the back panel fabric over it, making sure to line up the marks:

I transferred the motif to the fabric using a water soluble marker:

Done!

I think this will look really beautiful for the back of the pillow:

Now to stitch the back....I have the leaves done and part of the rose.  You probably recognize the fishbone stitch that I am using on the leaves.  I love doing that stitch and I think it is the perfect stitch for leaves! 

I am not sure which colors or stitch I will use for the swirly lines.

I will be back soon with part seven!

Ballerina Pillow Project - Part Five

 I have an update to share on my ballerina pillow project. 

You can read my other posts about this project here: {part one} {part two} {part three} {part four}

All the stitching for the front panel of the pillow is finished.  I measured the dimensions of the fabric.  It is a rectangle measuring approximately 15-1/2" horizontal x 12" vertical. 

I cut another piece of fabric for the back panel.

 Now I need to square up all the sides of both pieces of fabric to exact dimensions.  I need to use my rotary cutter for that.  I am not very accurate when cutting with scissors!

I also want to have the back panel embroidered.  I am trying to narrow down my choices to one of these motifs:

Then I will form the pillow and choose a beautiful trim for the edges.  I like these choices, this is what I have on hand, but I don't have enough of the pink and I think it may be too narrow.  I will probably do a combination of colors.  I LOVE the green velvet so I know I will use that :)

I will make sure to post my next steps!

Ballerina Pillow Project - Part Four

I have made quite a bit of progress on my ballerina pillow project. 

You can read my other posts about this project here: {part one} {part two} {part three} 

I finished the top border motif. 

Here is a closer look - I used the chain stitch, back stitch, stem stitch and double knot stitch:

I have also finished all the ballet costumes. 

Since my last post, I have made a few changes to the purple costume. 

If you have been following this project, you may have noticed that in previous posts the purple costume had wide shoulder straps:

I decided I didn't like the way those looked after I had filled in the bodice of the costume, so I cut the purple stitching on the straps out.  I decided that double spaghetti straps stitched in the lavender of the tutu would look better.  I started to make the change....

and then realized you should be able to see the hanger between the spaghetti straps - I hadn't stitched it before because it had been covered by the wider straps - so I had to stitch the missing parts of the hanger first!

Then I stitched each of the spaghetti straps with a single straight stitch

that I couched with this beautiful blending filament that adds so much sparkle:

Next, I washed out all the water soluble marker:

and stretched the fabric out to dry:

It is really beautiful!

I will be back with another post on my next steps with this project!

Ballerina Pillow - Part Three

I have a quick update on my ballerina pillow project.  You may read the previous posts for this project here {part one} {part two} 

I have stitched the outline of the purple tutu - I did this in back stitch.  I need to fill in all little details on the tutu and the design on the bodice area.
I also made some progress on the pink tutu - also in back stitch.  For the shoulder straps on this one, I am using the double knot stitch. 

I talked about the green and lavender floss colors I am using in my last post on this project.  Now for the pinks,  I am using DMC #603 {dark pink} and #605 {light pink}.  They are both so pretty! I love the way they look with the other colors in this palette:

My next step is to finish all three ballet costumes and then start on the fancy motif at the top: