Country Homespun Friends Stitchery Accent Pillow

A few weeks ago I made this little accent pillow for one of my dear friends who was feeling down at the time. I thought it would make a great "I am thinking of you" gift to cheer her up.

Once you complete this accent pillow, it will measure approximately 6 3/4" wide by 7 1/4" tall. I used a 1/4" seam allowance during the sewing construction.

Here are the supplies that you will need:

6" by 6" piece of tea-dyed cotton muslin fabric
1/4 yard of cotton homespun fabric
Embroidery floss to match homespun fabric
Sewing Machine and basic sewing supplies
Disappearing ink tracing pen
Small Embroidery Hoop
Small amount of poly-fiber fill

The saying that I stitched on my accent pillow says: "Side by side or miles apart, Dear friends are always close at heart." Please see photo for placement of wording.

Pattern: On a piece of paper that measures 4 1/4" by 4 1/2" in size, write out the wording as shown in the picture. You will use this as your pattern.

Trace the words onto your muslin fabric with a disappearing ink pen and then place fabric in a small embroidery hoop. Using 3 strands of embroidery floss and an embroidery needle, stitch the wording using small straight stitches.

From cotton homespun fabric, cut four strips that each measure 2 1/2" by 7 1/2", these strips will be used to make the border. Using your sewing machine, sew each border strip onto your muslin fabric. You will need to trim them down once you have them sewn on so that you have a complete rectangle.

Once your front panel of the pillow is completed, measure it and cut a matching back piece out of homespun fabric. Pin the two pieces right-sides together and sew around 3 and a 1/2 of the edges. Turn pillow right-side out and stuff with poly-fiber fill. Using a sewing needle and matching thread, sew the opening shut with a blind stitch.

Adding the accents: From homespun, cut a strip that measures 1/2" wide by 8" long and tie it into a bow. Trim ends of the bow and then hand sew it onto the top center of your pillow. If desired, cut a tiny heart from homespun and glue it to the front of the pillow with fabric glue. (mine is near the word 'always').

~ Happy Sewing ~