Seasonal Warm-up

'Tis the season. 'Tis the season for me to anticipate making tons of wonderful gifts, all the while knowing I will make maybe a few.

This little warm-up is in response to a nephew's elopement. I first thought I'd make them silk pillowcases. Off I went to my favorite local fabric store, Gail K. Alas they have their bridal fabrics in chaos, at least for someone looking specifically for cream silk. After rifling through polyester, rayon and other fabrics, I failed to find anything appropriate.

Then I remembered. I made silk pillowcases for my daughter when she married a decade ago. I'm willing to bet those sweet pillowcases are tucked away and have never been used.

So I purchased the most lovely off-white Egyptian cotton. It feels like silk to me, sort of a satin finish on one side and more flat on the other.

Making the pillowcases was, of course, super easy. I love hand embroidery and so added some to the cuff. First I used the feather stitch in a variegated brown pearl cotton. I had to refer to this classic embroidery booklet several times until I got my rhythm going. Then it was great fun.

After completing the feather stitch in brown, I then added blue French knots to each feather stitch. This took a while but was also great fun. I became a little nervous about how this stitching would hold up in the washer and dryer, and so I added a running stitch in a darker blue to sort-of secure the feather stitch.

The cases survived the washer and dryer beautifully. I am little disappointed in the shadows produced by thread tails. So not perfect. But certainly hand-made with love.