We Embroidered!

For Mother's Day, we made embroidered pillows. Everyone was enjoying working on the Spring Tapestry so much, I thought they could handle it.

It took us a week to make them, but it was well worth it. First, we looked at this fun Children's Embroidery Flickr Pool. Everyone was inspired and started talking right away about what they would make.

We used 6 inch hoops. I cut muslin squares 8x8. The kids drew with pencils right onto the muslin. I kept the loop on while they drew so that the image would be centered and we wouldn't have to move it once they started sewing.
We discussed the concept of "drawing with our needle" and how the little hoops are just a smaller version of our Tapestree Table. They all used a running stitch, making small spaces between the stitches. I also talked about the satin stitch for filling in pictures.

My classroom was so calm and happy while everyone embroidered in little pods on the carpet.
To turn them into pillows, we machine sewed them onto cute coordinating fabrics. The kids held down the footpedal while I guided the fabric. Then they stuffed the pillows and sewed the hole closed.

Below is a sampling of the work. I love how each pillow really represented the child who created it. A few kids chose to do free form embroidery, similar to our first tapestry.
I know the Moms will cherish them for years to come!