Needlepoint is a beautiful art form that I think is due for a comeback; after all why should knitting have all the fun?
I really wanted to create my own design for an ottoman I am reupholstering, unfortunately my painting skills are limited to baseboards and living room walls.
But I wasn’t about to let that stop me!
If you too find that the creativity that flows from your brain stops short of your hands read on….
Here’s what you will need to start:
Needlepoint canvas (find at your local needlepoint shop or amazon.com)
Pencil
Acrylic paint that matches your needlepoint fibers you will use for stitching
Variety of artist paint brushes
Basic design printed on paper
Needlepoint canvas is sold by the “count” which just means how many stitches are in an inch.
Think about what your finished project will be when choosing your “count”.
In this tutorial I am making an ottoman with a top that is 15x18” using a thicker wool fiber; so I chose a 13 count.
Need additional guidance on what size or fibers to choose?
Click here.
Because I have less than zero talent when it comes to drawing I went out on the internet to find my design:
check it out. Make sure you read the usage laws before selecting your design…we don’t want the copyright police knocking on your door! Enlarge/shrink your design to the size you need and print it.
Tape the printed paper to the back of your canvas and pencil in the design on the canvas. Don’t go too heavy on the pencil, it does smudge and you wouldn’t want that coming off on your fiber (My design is marked heavier so you can see it in the photos).
Thin your paint with water a little before painting on the canvas.
Your goal is to cover the canvas, but not cover the holes.
Using a fine tip brush start painting along your pencil lines and move to a larger brush to fill in the larger areas.
Make sure you are using a fairly light touch with the brush.
Every few minutes hold your canvas up to the light to see if your holes are filling in.
This photo shows where some paint has covered a few of the holes.
If this happens you can blow on it through a straw, go back over the spot with a dry brush or poke through with a toothpick.
You will find that the paint won’t make it into every nook and cranny on your first time through with the paintbrush.
While it doesn’t have to be perfect, you do want the design area to be covered, so allow the paint to dry and then do a second coat in the spots you missed.
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| Now get stitching!! |
Following the trace marks sew your candy corn together;
leave the bottom open. Carefully
trim and clip around your bite mark.
At this point you can sew a straight seam across the bottom or add a
bottom piece to give your pillow extra dimension. To get the correct bottom size just adjust your pillow to
the dimension you want, set it on a piece of paper and trace around it. Cut a piece of felt to that size, pin
it on the bottom and sew. Don’t
forget to leave an opening to turn your pillow right side out.
Now comes the fun part. It’s time to gore up your zombie! I decided to make some eyes for mine to bring even more
dimension and silliness to my poor little candy corn. All it took was two 2” circles of felt. Sew a gathering stitch around the edge
and add a little stuffing and pull the gather tight. I sewed one eye in place and loosely attached the other with
some red embroidery thread. The
hooded eyelids were made by cutting two half moon pieces out of the green and
hand stitching them over the eyeballs.
Making one long horizontal stitch and then short vertical stitches over
that formed the mouth. It wasn’t
until I finished that I realized that I had sewn my poor zombie’s mouth
shut. How sad that he will have to
eat his brains through a straw, although to be fair I’m not sure he had teeth
to begin with. I painted some dark
red and green to highlight those teeth marks and thinned the red and let some
drip on to make my zombie even more gruesome. Using a toothpick I drew thin little lines to create the
bloodshot eyes.
Print the pattern Cozy Toes Slippers Adjust the pattern to your size. I saw comments that the pattern was too small, so decided to cut larger (I’m a size 10, but size 11 is what worked for me). Not knowing if the pattern included a seam allowance or not I added 1/2” for the sole and bottom portion of the sides. I also added some length to the top piece based on comments from others who had tried making the slippers.
Comparing my photos to theirs it appears their slippers are more robust. I don’t know if this is because they used stabilizer, added batting, or just had better staging in the photo. It also looks like they whip stitched the sole to the sides as well. I chose to hide the sole/side seam. I would LOVE to hear from someone who made these slippers using the actual instructions to find out if my instructions are remotely close, or if I am missing some supplies. 
