Cross-stitching a pillow and decorating it yourself

A person’s daily life is decorated with little things, often useless objects that do not perform any practical function. For example, candlesticks, paintings, fabric toys, garlands. But without these things the apartment looks gloomy, boring, too strict.

A decorative element such as a cross-stitched pillow will add warmth and comfort to the design of the room.


The craftsman puts a piece of his soul into a thing made with his own hands.

Beautiful cross stitch pattern for a pillow

The most unusual decoration of the room are pillows with embroidered patterns. This accessory is also used by restaurant designers to give the catering area a special homely feel and atmosphere. Cross stitching various pillows is not only a cute hobby, but a real art.


Embroidering pillows in Rus' was one of the favorite pastimes of Russian women.

You can choose threads to create an ornament so that they are in harmony with the color of other things. For example, with the color of the sofa. Despite the hard, stressful city life, people try to find a cute hobby that will make their life more romantic.


The cross was considered a talisman against the evil eye and evil spirits; it protected and cleansed from all evil.

Creating a beautiful interior item is a kind of outlet, an opportunity to escape into your own world. It is believed that thread embroidery is a very painstaking work that takes up a lot of useful time. But, if you calculate how much time we spend buying groceries, surfing the Internet, reading useless news (scandals, gossip), watching useless TV shows, traveling in public transport, you come to the conclusion that handicrafts do not take very much time. You just need to give up “useless” time wasters and spend them on art.


Shirts and sundresses, as well as towels, tablecloths and pillows were embroidered with a cross.


It was difficult to find a house that did not have embroidered pillows.

Ideas and patterns for cross stitching sofa cushions

Ornaments and patterns are selected based on the style of the room. There are several techniques for making a pattern on a pillow. The most popular technique is hand cross stitch.


There is a belief that a pillow embroidered with a cross brings goodness to everyone who uses it.

Monochrome ornament does not lose popularity. For example, a landscape with a winter theme, embroidered with one thread.


Nowadays you can embroider a pillow with a cross using absolutely any design.

A fashionable direction is also “Modern” or “Art Nouveau”. Ornaments in the Art Nouveau style are used to process pillows, sachets, interior paintings that decorate shelves, and greeting cards. Inspiration can be drawn from the encyclopedia “Art Nouveau. Cross stitch.”


You can simply choose a neutral theme, for example, patterns, ornaments, flowers.

It is not necessary to embroider a multi-colored landscape with complex color transitions and buy a lot of thread. You can create a design from four, or even three shades, and it will look no less impressive. Using a small amount of thread is also good because it makes it easier to count the crosses. By the way, selecting threads that are in harmony with each other is the most difficult stage of work if you embroider (no matter what technique, cross stitch or satin stitch).


If you want to add something new to your interior without significant expenses? Original handmade pillows will come to the rescue!

A regular cross is the easiest element to make. There are several sources that people rely on if they want to create drawings with threads. For example, ready-made beautiful patterns are sold for beginners, allowing them not to worry about which threads and how much canvas to buy.


Cross-stitched pillows will look great in a children's room.

At first they may seem expensive. But if you consider how much time people spend on selecting and counting all the embroidery components, you come to the conclusion that ready-made patterns allow you to save money. An ornament embroidered on canvas can be easily used when sewing a pillow.


For beginners who think that sofa cushions are too much for them yet, you can start by making a pincushion.

The second option is to create an original pattern using a special program on the Internet that converts an ordinary picture or photograph into a pattern for cross stitch. This program is available to everyone, absolutely free and easy to find. She not only “translates” the picture into a diagram, but also selects the shades of threads that should be purchased to create this picture.


When decorating your baby’s nursery, you can add a drop of care and warmth by embroidering original accessories for children.

How to create a pillow

To create a unique pillow with original patterns, we immediately make a pillow, and then sew an embroidered pillowcase on it.

Sewing the pillow itself is easy. Let's look at detailed step-by-step instructions for the creative process.

Step 1

We take a dense material, cut out two lengths of our product with seam allowances.

Step 2

We sew three and a half sides of the future product using a sewing machine.

Step 3

Cut out the padding polyester to the required size.

Step 4

We place the artificial filler in a sewn pillowcase.

Step 5

Sew up the remaining hole using a blind stitch.

The interior item is almost ready. All that remains is to decorate it with a delightful pillowcase embroidered with a cross.

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Before decorating the product, we think about what fabric we will use. You can use the same fabric for the entire pillowcase, perhaps reproduce the ornament on the canvas, and decorate the back part with a different material structure. Everything depends only on the wishes and creative fantasies of the needlewoman.

Let's start cross stitching the pillow

The schematic drawing on paper is divided into squares ten by ten cells. To make the ornament perfect, use a special marker to draw the same squares on the canvas as in the chosen pattern. We mark the center of the pattern by folding the canvas in half twice and begin embroidering from the mark we made.

Applying all the above recommendations, you will embroider an exclusive and warm item.

A simple cross stitch pattern for a pillow: ornament

If the creator does not know which ornament to choose, he can resort to a universal option: a red ornament on a light background of the pillow. A light pillow with a neat red ornament looks almost luxurious, and you can give it to a friend for the New Year. The red and white pattern looks dynamic and cozy at the same time. This chic pillow is uplifting without looking tacky. In addition, repeating patterns are easy to create.


A DIY embroidered pillow can decorate your interior and make your home more comfortable.

To give the design a more impressive and neat look, you can process the edge of the product with a two-color or one-color ornament, creating an embroidered frame. If the drawing is quite simple and uncomplicated, it will “sparkle” when framed and will look quite expensive. This trick was used by craftsmen who created postcards and interior items in the Art Nouveau style.


Things that we create with our own hands are considered much more pleasant and expensive for us.

Fashionable cross stitch patterns

The most popular pattern on pillows is flowers and plants. Sometimes a geometric pattern is used; it emphasizes the interior of the living room well.

Attention! Sometimes you can add ribbons and lace or beads to the embroidery. The size of decorative pillows is usually 30×30

The embroidery should be in the same style as the room itself.

Richelieu idea

Even a novice seamstress can cross-stitch pillowcases, but it is advisable to buy ready-made kits. Such crafts will look great in the living room or bedroom, and for a children's room you can make bright drawings of animals or fairy tale characters. Before you start embroidering, you need to remember that the canvas and fabric must be washed to avoid shrinkage. If, nevertheless, a person is not confident in the success of the work, then it is better to contact the masters in the studio.

Botanical cross stitch - embroidery patterns on the theme of wild flowers

Flowers are a universal embroidery option for all times. They can be created in winter to lift your spirits and give the room brightness, summer warmth, in the fall - so as not to fall into depression. There are many schemes on the Internet dedicated specifically to colors. Various weeds, grasses, and dandelions, both ripe and April, are successful.


Such things contain internal energy, which is a strong talisman for our home.


A pillow embroidered yourself speaks about the skills and tastes of the craftswoman, her skill and desire to create something beautiful for her interior.

Beautiful and bright sofa cushions with flowers transform a gray interior. Things made with your own hands protect you from everything bad that you can bring into your home from the street. Therefore, before, an embroidered pillow was in every home. If the pillow was small, then it was called a dumka. Linguists still cannot come to a consensus why the accessory was called that way. Perhaps because it was pleasant to rest on a pillow that was embroidered with your own hands, to unload the psyche, and when the brain is relaxed, it is easier to think.


Our ancestors had a peculiar cult of embroidery. The girl had to learn this art from childhood.

Interior layout ideas

Today, ribbon embroidery is a popular type of handmade decor. It is used for finishing pillows, pillowcases, bedspreads and duvet covers. In addition, it serves as an excellent technique for creating three-dimensional paintings.


The embroidered patterns are sophisticated and ornate.

Pillows embroidered with satin ribbons are in particular demand. Depending on the chosen pattern and colors, they are suitable for different styles: Provence, classic, modern.

Fashionable patterns for cross-stitched pillows

A popular trend in embroidery is “celestial” themes, for example, stars, planets. In the works of 2022 you can even see shiny lurex elements. They do not decorate the entire picture, but only small, individual details. For example, the eyes of a unicorn, horse, fairy.


Embroidery made by hand is still in demand and valuable to this day, so its cost is also overpriced.

Monochrome pillows are also trending. Craftsmen don’t want to spend a lot of time counting and selecting threads of different colors, so they came up with monochrome paintings, for example, in beige or soft blue, which look very beautiful but are easy to create. Cross stitching a pillow with a monochrome picture does not have to involve using only one color of thread. You can decorate the picture with a splash of color. For example, make a gray character's eyes orange.


In order to master such a skill, you need to have a certain desire, make the maximum amount of effort and find a lot of free time.

Material for cross stitching pillows

How beautiful the finished item will look depends not only on the pattern that the embroiderer chooses. First you need to buy good canvas and quality threads. Anyone who embroiders without a hoop should take a closer look at the compacted, dense canvas treated with a special substance. This fabric can be found at a craft store. In principle, you can embroider on any canvas or fabric purchased, for example, in a linen store. But on a special, dense fabric with a large canvas it is undoubtedly more convenient.


When handicrafts are just beginning to be studied, you can use ready-made embroidery kits that are sold in special sewing stores.

You need to choose threads especially carefully. If the choice of fabric is more a matter of taste, then almost everything depends on the quality of the threads: both the pleasure of the creative process and the appearance of the finished item. Don't buy the cheapest threads. They get confused during the work process and gather in knots. It is better to purchase high-quality threads “Maderina” or “DSM”.


They are silky, elastic, wear-resistant, and have a rich color range.

Embroidery complexity

Attention! For beginners, it will be quite difficult to start work from scratch. Therefore, such people can purchase ready-made embroidery kits. They can be bought in the online store and in textile stores.

Advantages of ready-made kits:

  • beautiful and simple design drawings;
  • large assortment of colors and sizes;
  • cheaper than buying everything separately;
  • There can be different embroidery techniques.


Ready-made color scheme

Assembling the pillow after embroidery

Cross stitching a pillow consists of two stages: creating a pattern and sewing the pillow itself.


A pillow decorated with cross stitch can be an excellent gift for loved ones and relatives.

Making a sofa cushion is no fundamentally different from sewing an ordinary living room accessory without embroidery. You just need to cut out a round or square silhouette from the fabric, overcast the edges, and then fold the two fabric elements together and sew them, turning them inside out, leaving a free gap for the filling. This procedure is easy to do manually if the pillow is small (smaller than the standard 40X40). After the rag parts are sewn together, the pillowcase needs to be turned right side out, filled with fiberglass and sewed up the remaining edge of the pillow.


Handmade has a special value, so such gifts are kept with you for a long period of your life.

If the embroidery was created on a special linen material, then there is no need to sew anything additional.


Today, beautifully designed embroidery becomes a unique and unusual component in absolutely any interior.

Sewing pillowcases with embroidery

Tools and materials for work:

  • finished drawing;
  • satin or lace ribbon;
  • a piece of cotton fabric;
  • clasp;
  • decorative pillow;
  • yarn, needles, machine.


Colored canvas
Step-by-step work:

  1. Cut three parts from the material. The first is 37*37 cm (allow for 1 cm allowances), the second is 37*20 cm (20 = half the side of the product along with seam allowances), the third is 37*22 cm (21 = half the side of the product with space for zipper and allowances);
  2. process the edges of the fabric using an overlocker;
  3. sew on the embroidery using a machine. It should be in the middle of the pillowcase. The edge can be decorated with a braid of your choice;
  4. The length of the ribbon is calculated using the formula: two widths + two lengths of the pattern + 1.5 cm for each corner = 21*2 + 17*2 + 2*4 = 84 cm. If the ribbon is wider, then the corners should be larger;
  5. Sew the braid first along one side at a distance of 3 mm, and then along the other. If you sew it in the center, then it will begin to curl. After sewing on the ribbon, carefully iron the first piece from the inside;
  6. Then you can sew on the fastener. It should be facing elements 2 and 3. Then make a flap on element 3 so that the clasp is closed, and iron it;
  7. Now you need to fold the two finished parts right sides together and stitch along the edge. The zipper should be open at this moment, this will make it easier to complete the job.

You might be interested in this: Technique for performing the French knot in embroidery


Slavic pattern

Below is how to design pillow embroidery according to the latest trend for 2022. Embroidery work can be done either manually or on a special machine.

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