"Sweet Memories" Vintage Pillow Cover

I love to find these beautiful, vintage pillow covers. They tend to be about 100 years old and were created in the early 1900's. Pillows became trendy about 1907, so many began to appear about that time. Many of these use silk floss and came in a kit with a pre-tinted linen, just as our kits come today. What makes these very special to me are the quirky sayings and silk threads that were used. I quilt these on a Handi Quilter Fusion, longarm.

This is the original cover. I removed the backing, which was a depression era, Nile green linen.

I’m pretty sure the maker would be mortified to find out that she missed satin stitching this area above on the “S”. The magenta straight stitch is hers. She forgot to go over it with the satin stitch. This is called a ‘padded satin stitch’. I did leave it as I found it, that’s part of the story!

When placing designs on cloth, I use a blue, water soluble pen. I try to only make small registration marks. A great tip for removing the blue marks, mix 1 heaping teaspoon of baking soda to one cup of ice cold water. Put in a spray bottle, dissolve, spray and marks disappear, forever! At least I've had no reappearing marks since I've used this method! Make sure to keep ANY heat away from the marks until they are removed, otherwise they are there forever.

I usually don't have a big plan for these pieces until I begin them. I let them 'talk' to me while I stitch and they usually SCREAM at some point! ;)

I use a variety of rulers for all the ditch stitching and line work. The longer, 9” ruler is great for long runs and then the smaller, Palm ruler, is super for short lengths.

The maker on this piece did some luscious embroidery!

I use these notched rulers for guiding me around the embroidery.

Another great finish! I adore these pieces and hope you've enjoyed the beauty and re-purpose as well!