September 2013 craft challenge - Weddings

Follow my blog with Bloglovin Due to unforeseen circumstances the Creative Connections monthly craft challenges had stalled for the past few months. However, we're now sorted and organised and these will now be taking place every month.

The theme for September is 'weddings' and this gave me an excuse to make a ring pillow that I've been wanting to make for ages.

According to Wikipedia a ring pillow is 

"A wedding ring cushion or ring bearer pillow is a small pillow on which the wedding rings are carried in a traditional Western white wedding. They are frequently carried by a junior member of the bridal party known as the ringbearer frequently a younger male relative or friend.
During the process the ring bearer carries the rings on the pillow down the aisle to the officiant.
Wedding ring cushions are generally small, ornate pillows that reflect the wedding's colours or white silk pillows. In less traditional Western weddings they can be whimsical or thematic containers that reflect the couple's personal tastes."

Mine is made from light ivory shantung silk, overlaid with embroidered lace net (a remnant from my own wedding dress that, as I've had it for over 24 years, must count as vintage!) that I added more embroidery, beads and pieces of crochet too.

I cut two pieces of silk and one piece of the lace net 20cm square. I then tacked the lace net onto the right side of one of the pieces of silk. I also added two pieces of crochet that I had cut from crocheted mats to opposite corners.

Next, I added three ivory buttons to the larger piece of crochet (the bottom right-hand corner of the photo above). After adding beads around the curved edges of the same crochet, I started to embroider the lace net. I filled in the leaves with large chain stitches, ran chain stitch curls from the leaves and added web stitches haphazardly around the curls. Once I though I'd done enough I added seed beads in any gaps.

As the purpose of a ring pillow is to carry a ring, I next had to decide how I'd do this. Originally I had thought about doing a pocket in the middle, but as I'd embroidered all over, I didn't want to cover that up. How about a ribbon? I decided against a ribbon as it could become knotted etc, making it difficult to retrieve a ring.

I had a mooch around my workroom looking for ideas until I'd accidentally placed a crocheted mat over the corner of the pillow. Light bulbs went off, I could make a pocket with that. I cut a piece out to cover the smaller piece of crochet on the pillow. The holes in the new piece could were big enough to use as button holes, so the pocket can be opened  and closed.

I sewed the back of the pillow to the front and filled it with stuffing and rose petals. To finish the pillow, I added some gorgeous ribbon around the top.

If you want to take part in the September challenge, pop over to the Get Crafty with Creative Connections monthly challenge blog. There's a prize for the best entry!

TTFN
Louise

The other blog link parties I join are listed in the column on the right. There's lots of lovely blogs out there!