How To - Woven Linen Ribbon Pillow Cushion April 14, 2016 15:08

 Our Stash Blaster® portable placemat size weaving loom is a great tool for blasting through yarn, fabric and ribbon stash. You may want to keep your finished piece as a placemat or perhaps turn it into something else. In this case, we had loads of beautiful Shindo linen ribbon and we decided to turn it into a decorative pillow.

We made our placemat using 1/8” cotton twill tape for the warp and 3/8” linen ribbon for the weft. This makes for very quick weaving (quick stash blasting) and we purposely made this project without fringe to eliminate any bulk. Our finished placemat measured 16” x 11 ¾” and we used a piece of 17 ½” x 12 ½”of cotton twill fabric stash we had lying around for the backing.

 We decided to do this project entirely by hand because we wanted a work in progress that you could carry around in a big purse or small tote bag.   Since we just have a personal thing for the textured look of crewel wool, we decided to sew with some stash of our Appleton crewel wool in a light brown color. We placed the less pretty side facing up since this side will be facing inside once the pillow is turned right side out. Here, we use a basic straight stitch to sew the backing and the placemat together.

This whole process progressed very quickly even though we were doing it all by hand. We sewed around three sides of the placemat and backing. This is a view of the backside.

Next, we turned it right side out. You will notice that we have a lot of extra fabric at the unfinished edge and this is on purpose.

Next we stuffed the pillow with some stuffing from a local craft supply store. We used just enough to fill in all the inside space but you could make it as full or not per your personal preference.

Our next step was to close the open end. We folded that extra bit of fabric down toward the inside of the pillow and we switched to white crewel wool.   We brought the needle up from inside the fold so you cannot see the tail.

Then we used a basic backstitch but only penetrated the inside fold of the fabric backing. The texture of the linen helps hide our stitches on the front side.  

By stitching only from the inside of the folded fabric, stitches are virtually invisible.

This cushion was quick to finish with an already completed placemat.

 We hope this inspires you to think of ways to expand your weavabilities!