A Link to the Past Maps Pillow

[lpgeorge123]

Did you sew them together just like normal fabric on a sewing machine? I need to add some more aida to a project of mine (didn't measure first....oops) but I'm unsure as to how to do it.

Yeah I did treat it like regular fabric. It was really difficult to keep them lined up properly, but I think that had more to do with the thickness of the finished pieces. The side I hand stitched I used the ladder method to close it up. If your project is fairly small, I'd almost recommend hand stitching it to keep the rows matched up nicely. The holes in the aida made it really easy to hand stitch and it worked up quickly. The smaller edge of the maps were 224 stitches high, and I was able to hand sew that shut in roughly 20-25 minutes (or about half the length of a Dr. Who episode ).

The sides I machine stitched I made two rows of stitches and I left about a half an inch of fabric to avoid having the aida fray.

[no_need]

This is great! I really love the pillow idea - nice tie in to the two 'sides' of the map

[Kareesh]

(or about half the length of a Dr. Who episode )

Best way to track time ever.

Cool. My project is really small, so I'll just hand stitch it. Not sure if the ladder stitch will work for what I need it for, but I'll look into other stitches. Thanks for the info!

[yafashelli]

That is such a great idea! Your stitching is fabulous!

Good job!

[Lord Libidan]

Genius idea with the two sides. Love it, well done

[funkymonkey]

This is such a cool project. The clouds around the edges are a really cool effect for a pillow! Nice job.

[Firehawke]

Wonderful work! And what a great idea...a pillow!!! Makes perfect sense!

[HeyDay]

Wow *_* Your pillow looks so great! And what a wonderful idea to take the maps for both sides

I just finished an ALTTP stitching myself and want to transform it into a pillow. Maybe you have some tipps for me? Unfortunately it is a little skewed, so I'm afraid to just sew it onto a piece of fabric. I've bought a pillowcase which is slightly bigger than the stiching but I don't know excactly how to attach the stitching to it so a) the stiching wouldn't be loose and bulge in the middle and b) sew the border on the fabric without showing the white canvas.
I hope you can help me somehow

[tnitnetny]

They look amazing! Just a piece of advice, scotch guard those babies good. You won't want to spill something on them and not be able to get it out.

[lpgeorge123]

Wow *_* Your pillow looks so great! And what a wonderful idea to take the maps for both sides

I just finished an ALTTP stitching myself and want to transform it into a pillow. Maybe you have some tipps for me? Unfortunately it is a little skewed, so I'm afraid to just sew it onto a piece of fabric. I've bought a pillowcase which is slightly bigger than the stiching but I don't know excactly how to attach the stitching to it so a) the stiching wouldn't be loose and bulge in the middle and b) sew the border on the fabric without showing the white canvas.
I hope you can help me somehow

I was going to ask if you've tried blocking your piece, but after reading through that link a bit I see you have. My two pieces were not exactly the same, even after I blocked them both, and my sewing skill level is most certainly lvl 0. The good thing about a pillow is it's 3D, and if it's not perfect more stuffing can be added and it hides the bumps and unevenness.

Before I made my pillow I did a big google search on the best way of making it into a pillow. I thought about pillow forms, and making it into a pillow case. There were several helpful tutorials out there. Try googling "cross stitch into pillow." This one I liked and it sounds like it could work for you: http://tinymodernist.wordpress.com/2014 ... w-cushion/

In the end, I got lazy and just stitched the two pieces of Aida together. I was worried about the pieces stretching and pulling apart so first I stitched together two scrap pieces and yanked the crap out of them. No pulling or tearing of the Aida, so I stitched them together.

Perhaps others on this site can give better advice for turning pieces into pillows? tnitnetny made the charity quilts and is at sewing lvl 99 based on the pictures of quilts I've seen.

They look amazing! Just a piece of advice, scotch guard those babies good. You won't want to spill something on them and not be able to get it out.

I know I should, but que sera, sera. For me, stitching those maps was more about reliving the happy memories of playing that game, as well as the relaxing movements of cross stitch. It sits on a chair that's rarely used, and it's purely decorative, never used as a real pillow. Anytime I have extra guests over I put it away in another room, but if something happens to it I wouldn't be devastated. I think the sun will do more damage than anything else.