How to Finish a Needlepoint Pillow With Cording
Once your needlepoint project is finished it is likely that you will want to turn your hard work into an attractive pillow. You can give your pillow a professionally finished look by trimming it with cording. While there are commercial cords available with tabs that can be sewn into your pillow seams, generally the needlework artist will want to make her own cord, customized to the colors of the pillow. This is not as hard as it seems and the results can be gratifying.
Other People Are Reading
Things You'll Need
- Cup hook
- 15 to 30 strands floss or pearl cotton
- Scissors
- Twisting cord mini-drill
- Seam ripper
- Needle and thread
Instructions
-
-
1
Finish your needlework pillow so it is covered, seamed and stuffed. Measure around the sides of your pillow, add the measurements together, then multiply by three.
-
2
Cut 15 to 30 strands of floss or pearl cotton to your measurement with scissors--in this case a "strand" of floss includes all six strands. Lay your strands out straight, gather each end, and knot them firmly.
-
-
3
Place one knotted end centered over a cup hook. Attach the other end to a cord-twisting mini-drill. Turn the drill slow enough that you can see what the threads are doing. As soon as the threads start to curl in on themselves, stop twisting and untwist until the twisted strands are straight. Keep the cord taut..
-
4
Detach your cord from your drill, while maintaining tension. Find the half way point on your cord--you may need another person to measure this point for you. Grab the center point firmly and bring your other knotted end back to hook on the cup hook. You need to keep the cord taut as you do this. You should have both knots on the hook and the center loop of cord in your hand.
-
5
Place the loop in your dominant hand. Move your other hand up the cord about one inch and grab the cord firmly. Release the loop in your other hand and the cord will twist on itself. Once the cord has finished twisting, grab it again with your dominant hand. Hold the cord taut. Move your other hand up the cord an inch to grab firmly. Release the cord in the other hand and allow it to twist together. When all of the cord has twisted, tie the cords together at the knots to stop and hold the twist.
-
6
Trim off the extra two knots. Use a seam ripper to open the seam at one corner of the pillow. When possible you want to stretch the seam threads and work the cloth open just enough to tuck the cord knot inside the seam edge. Starting at a corner is particularly good if you are also adding tassels.
-
7
Sew the cord such so it covers the seam. Use a hemming stitch that goes over the cording, and take care not to turn the cord as you sew it to the pillow. Continue stitching until the cording is attached around the entire perimeter of the pillow. Knot your thread and cut off close to the knot to finish.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
For multi-color cording, add an equal amount of each color floss. If you are adding a hint of metallic you may only need a few strands to bring out a glint in the finished cord. Tape the ends of unused cords and wrap the cord around toilet paper cardboard to preserve your twisted cord for use in another project.
References
- Photo Credit filo colorato image by globus80 from Fotolia.com
