Handmade Gifts- Vintage Embroidered Hanky Pillows

Hi guys! Today I am going to share one of my favorite diy gifts with you all, embroidered hanky pillows. I had originally posted this on a friends blog that is no longer live. Being that this is one of my go to gifts when I need a special present, I wanted to share it all with you here. One of my favorite things to do with vintage hankies is make throw pillows. They make fantastic decor items! This time I thought I would embroider a little something on the blank space on my hanky. It adds a whole new dimension to my favorite diy pillow making! 

• Here’s What You Need:
• *Vintage Hanky
• *Marking Pen
• *Embroidery Floss and Needle
• *Plain Fabric for Front (I used linen)
• *Patterned Fabric for Back
• *Zipper
• *Zipper Foot
• *Sewing Machine and Thread
• *Straight Pins

The first thing you need to do is embroider your hanky. Write out your quote in the blank space with a marking pen or pencil. Then embroider the saying with your embroidery floss and needle using a basic back stitch. 

Once your hanky is embroidered you are ready to make your pillow. Decide how big to make your pillow based on your hanky. My hanky was 12×12 so I made my pillow 14×14. So I cut my front piece of fabric and back piece to be 15×15 for seam allowance.  Pin your hanky in the middle of the front 15×15 piece. Then top stitch around the hanky to stitch it to the front fabric. This will be the front of your pillow. Cut your back piece to be 15×15. 

Now you are ready to add your zipper. Lay your pieces together right sides facing. Lay the zipper on top of the bottom edge. Mark where your zipper will begin and end. Then stitch from one edge to the first zipper mark with a regular stitch. Then backstitch a bit and then stitch with a basting stitch to the other zipper mark. Then backstitch a couple of stitches and then stitch with a regular stitch to the end. 

Press open your seam allowance. Open your zipper up a little. Lay it face down into the seam allowance trying to get the teeth centered where the seam is. Pin the zipper down to the fabric. Now you are ready to stitch. 

Attach your zipper foot to your machine. Start stitching down the right side of the zipper close to the teeth. When you get to the zipper pull, put the needle down into the fabric and lift up the presser foot. Then slide the pull past the foot and then put the foot back down and continue stitching. When you get to the end of the zipper, pivot the fabric in the machine and stitch and backstitch across the bottom of the zipper just above the metal stopper. Then pivot again and stitch up the other side of the zipper moving the zipper pull as you did before when you get to it. 

Now you need to rip out your basting stitches you stitched previously with a seam ripper and this will expose your zipper. Open the zipper about halfway. 

Now fold the pieces back together so that right sides are facing and the zipper is flat at the bottom. Pin around the pillow sides. Now stitch from one side up to the top then across the top, then back down the other side, beginning and ending with a little backstitch. Clip corners and turn the pillow cover right side out. To finish add a pillow form and zip it up. 

What do you think? Pretty fun right! I LOVE this pillow and have several more in progress. It is time consuming but it is a really fun decor project! You can really customize it to your style and taste too just by the quote you use and the colors and style of the hanky. And the best part is it makes a wonderful gift! I hope you will give it a go sometime! I’ll be back soon with more holiday fun!