Indian Mirror Pillow

In Gujurat and Raajasthan in India, they do intricate embroidered garmets, accessories, etc. with mirrors--keeping the mirrors in place only with the stitch pattern.

Here's an instructable on how to do this type of embroidery onto a pillow. I did it more freeformed, randomly placing the mirrors around but you can do it however you want.

Step 1 Supplies

To do just the embroidery, you will need:

1. Whatever fabric you want to use. Keep in mind, you're going to be doing a lot of dense stitches and the mirrors weight a bit so make sure there's a tight enough weave and the fabric doesn't give too much.

2. Embroidery thread. For this, I used silk thread that I bought in India. The brand is Namaskar and might be able to be found online somewhere.

3. Embroidery loop. I couldn't find my wooden one, but use wood over plastic. Make sure it's not too huge a loop.

4. Round mirrors. Again, I bought these in India but Michaels or any craft store should carry these. I used 3 different sizes for a bit of pattern variation but you could do it all the same size ones.

5. Embroidery needle. If you don't want to get an embroidery needle, you need to buy a needle with a big enough eye to fit multiple strands in.

6. Scissors

7. Threader (optional)

If you want to make the pillow, you will need:

1. Pillow stuffing.

2. Sewing machine. You can always hand sew but this is faster.

3. Pinking shears.

4. Pins.

5. Chalk line tool. I'm sure there's an official name for this. It's the tool that creates a line of chalk when you run it along a surface. Ask at a craft store if you're unsure.