
For my Friday Sew-n-Tell, I am actually showing you a project I finished quite a few Fridays ago. I just got it back from the editor this week. My (wing needle) monogram heirloom pillow project is featured in the March/April issue of Creative Machine Embroidery. There is a little blurb about the project on the cover!!

For my non-sewing readers – this is a wing needle! As you can see, airplanes and the flying fowls aren’t just the ones that have wings! :) The wings in this case are the “extensions” you see protruding from the sides of the needle shaft:

Wing needles have been used extensively in heirloom sewing to create breathtaking effects! I attempted to apply the wing needle to machine embroidery to create an heirloom look for my pillow:


The monogram was done using regular embroider needles. The designs are from the Heirloom Monogram collection from Hatched in Africa. These letters mimic the look of traditional candlewicking:


These bows (from Heirloom Daisies 2 Collection, also by Hatched in Africa) were embroidered with the wing needle. Due to the wings, the needle penetrate the fabric and made bigger holes, giving it a different look – an heirloomy look!



I used Victorian batiste on top of a print fabric to give a textured look to the pillow. In addition to that, I had also used a layer of linen to stabilize my fabric assembly on top of using Heat ‘N Sta fusible tear-away stabilizer by Floriani (I love this stabilizer by the way!):

You probably already know my personal buzz word is heirloom. This pillow was made with Baby’s initials so that I can keep it as an heirloom pillow for her.

Making this pillow happen was a learning experience for me as I had to experiment with different fabric combinations in order for the design to come out intact on the fabric with the wing needle. Not properly stabilized, the wing needle actually shredded the batiste into a pulp. But I don’t mind the experimenting at all – that was really fun for me. It brought back fond memories of working in a wind tunnel in my former life!

Flipping the pages to see what other projects are featured, I came across my own mug! ;) I had forgotten about being asked for a tip for readers…. here were the two cents I had sent along to the editorial staff at CME. That has certainly been true for my pillow project here:



Thank you for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed your little visit. I wish you a restful week!

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