Tutorial Tuesday: New Life for Old Embroidery

Since McKenna doesn't read my blog I figure I can share this Christmas present I made for her. When I was her age I had this embroidered piece hanging in my bedroom:

I think my mom made it, but I'm not sure since it doesn't have the M.A.P. initials she usually stitches on her work. I remember it in my bedroom in the first house I lived in, but I think it went into storage after that. When I got it back a few years ago it was falling out of it's frame and had a water stain at the top. I won't recommend doing this to your vintage embroidery, but I took it out of the frame and threw it in the washer. Luckily, it held up well. Next, I folded it in half:

and carefully cut around the boy and the girl making sure not to snip any important parts. If you want to do a project like this and don't have two similarly shaped embroidery pieces, you could simply use fabric for the backing.

I machine stitched those pieces together and when it was still inside-out, I cut out a circle of velvet and stitched it around the base leaving a two-inch opening. I then turned it right-side out, stuffed it, and stitched it closed. In a matter of 15 minutes an old embroidered piece became a brand new two-sided doll.

 I love that something I used to stare at on my wall when I was a three-year-old is now something my three-year-old can hold.