Punch Needle Pillow Cover Guide

The Punch Needle Pillow Cover kit is one of my most popular products. It has been more than 2 years since I released the first version of this kit. During that time, punchneedle embroidery has continued to evolve, so what you have here is an updated version of the Guide, filled with the best tips, tricks, and techniques I’ve learned along the way.

With this cushion cover project, we’ll be creating a design that is beautiful, inspiring, and highly educational at the same time. Why educational? Because we won’t be using just one type of punch needle stitch to create the design—we’ll be combining several different techniques in a single project.

This is an easy and enjoyable way to explore almost everything punch needle embroidery has to offer. With just one project, you’ll get hands-on experience with what feels like 90% of the techniques used in punch needle embroidery.

If you have any questions during the learning process that are not covered in this Guide, please don’t hesitate to message me on Instagram. I’ll be happy to help.

Let’s start with a little inspiration 🙂 Below are a few examples of projects that can be created using the same techniques described in this Guide. These are all punch needle cushion covers, and they look absolutely beautiful, don’t they?

First, stretch the pillow cover onto the frames. It is always much easier to draw on taut fabric.

Important: Strong fabric tension is essential for neat punch needle embroidery. The fabric should be stretched as tightly as a drum. A punch needle applies much more pressure to the fabric than a regular embroidery needle used for cross-stitch, for example. If the frame is not sturdy enough, the fabric will gradually slip while you work. This makes it harder to punch through the fabric, causes uneven loops, and results in a less tidy finished piece.

That is why I always recommend using high-quality frames that can withstand the pressure of punch needle embroidery. 

Your frame kit includes 4 hollow tubes and 4 clamps. Insert the tubes one by one inside the pillow cover and assemble them into a square frame from the inside. Then attach the clamps from all four sides. Finally, twist the clamps slightly to tighten the pillow cover around the inner frame and create proper tension.

The best tool for transferring a design onto fabric is light. If your project is relatively small, you can open the image on a tablet, TV, or computer screen, place the fabric over it, and trace all the lines.

My favorite method is using a TV. It’s the fastest and one of the most convenient options. I display the image on the TV using the Screen Mirroring feature (available on most modern TVs), place the fabric over the screen, and trace the design.

You can do the same, or you can tape the printed pattern from the kit to a window, then either tape the stretched pillow cover over it or simply hold it in place while transferring all the lines onto the fabric.

If you’d like to learn more about transferring designs in the future, you can watch this video, where I explain several different methods.

What should you use for tracing?

I always recommend using a disappearing fabric pen. It is especially useful for designs with an open background or projects stitched with light-colored yarn, where it is important that no drawing marks remain visible.

If you accidentally draw an extra line with a disappearing pen, you can easily remove it using a hot iron or a hair dryer. These pens contain heat-sensitive ink that disappears when exposed to high temperatures. Another advantage is that the ink will not transfer onto the yarn during stitching.

When using markers, felt-tip pens, or pencils to transfer designs, there is always a risk that light-colored yarn may pick up the pigment as you stitch over the drawn lines. A disappearing pen eliminates that concern completely.

One more important note: pay attention to the position of the zipper on the pillow cover — it should be at the bottom. Also, try to center and align the design as evenly as possible on the pillow cover before tracing.

Some parts of our design will be stitched as loops, while others will be stitched as flat stitches. This is one of the unique features of punch needle embroidery — it is a double-sided technique. But we’ll talk more about that later.

For now, we need to transfer to the back side of the pillow cover the elements that will be stitched as loops. To create loops on the front side, we need to work those sections from the back.

There are several ways to do this:

• The easiest method is to simply look at the design on the front side and redraw the necessary elements on the back. Keep in mind — we’re not entering a drawing competition! The lines don’t have to be perfectly neat at this stage. Once the embroidery is finished, we’ll refine and clean everything up.
• Another option is to trace over the sections that need to be transferred with a thicker, darker line. Then place the pillow cover against a window or shine a flashlight through it from behind. Using the light, you’ll be able to see those lines through the fabric and redraw them on the back side.

In the video below, I demonstrate both of these methods.

As you saw in the video, we now place the pillow cover back onto the frame, but this time with the wrong side (the inside) facing outward. That’s because we’ll begin by working on the back side and stitching the loop sections first.

We will stitch this design using the 2 mm needle, which is the medium-sized needle included in the kit.

Insert the needle into the handle so that 2.5 cm (1 inch) of the needle remains above the handle. This is a medium loop height that creates nicely sized loops while also allowing the yarn to stay securely in the fabric.

The lower the needle is set, the shorter the loops will be, and the easier they can be pulled out of the fabric. As a general rule, the loop height is approximately half of the exposed needle length. So, with the needle set at 2.5 cm, your loops will be about 1.25 cm high.

This needle, along with some of the others in the kit, features an adjustable loop-height function. In future projects, feel free to experiment by setting the needle higher or lower in the handle. Different settings will create loops of different heights, allowing you to add texture and dimension within a single piece of embroidery.

Once the needle is positioned correctly, secure it by tightening the screw on the handle.

To thread the needle, insert the loop of the threader into the hole at the tip of the needle. Then continue feeding the threader all the way through the hollow needle until you can see the loop emerge from the bottom.

Use the thin threader that was included separately in your kit. The Lavor needle also comes with its own threader, but it is made of copper and is thicker, making it less convenient to use. I recommend keeping it as a spare.

Insert the end of the yarn color you will be using into the loop of the threader (we will start with the light green yarn).

Do not cut off a separate length of yarn. Instead, thread the needle directly from the skein. In punch needle embroidery, there is no need to work with pre-cut lengths of yarn — we will always stitch using yarn directly from the ball or skein.

Pull the threader through the needle, bringing the yarn with it. Leave about 5–10 mm (¼–⅜ inch) of yarn extending from the tip of the needle. There is no need to leave a longer tail.

For a better understanding of the threading process, watch the video below.

Our design combines multiple techniques, so we will learn how to create all of them. It is always easier to begin with loop embroidery because loops are stitched from the reverse side of the fabric. As you continue working, you will see them on the front side as finished elements. This minimizes the risk of accidentally piercing the loops with the needle or pulling out the yarn while embroidering.

We will start by embroidering the dark green leaves with light green centers. But first, let’s cover a little more useful theory.

Punch needle embroidery works as shown in the illustration below. The side you are looking at while stitching will always show the flat stitches (the smooth side). On the opposite side, loops will automatically form.

The height of the loops depends on the length of the needle setting: the longer the needle, the longer the loops will be, and vice versa.

Therefore, if you plan to create a project that combines both stitches and loops, you will need to turn your work so that you are working from either the front or the back side, depending on the technique you are using.

Our first elements (the light green centers of the leaves) will be embroidered using loops. To create loops on the front side of the fabric, we need to stitch from the reverse side. That is why we have mounted the cushion cover in the hoop with the wrong side facing us.

Loops are the basic, standard stitches used in approximately 99% of all punch needle projects. The thicker the needle and the yarn, the more dimensional and prominent the loops will be. The greater the needle height setting, the taller the loops will be. While loops can look very different visually, they are all created using exactly the same technique.

We embroider the stitches in a spiral, moving from the outer edge of the element toward the center. Arrange the stitches in a brick pattern, so that each stitch ends at the midpoint of the stitch in the adjacent row.

Once you have completely embroidered an element, simply cut the yarn. There are no knots in punch needle embroidery. We will discuss how to secure the embroidery later.

Now embroider the light green parts of the leaves, then the dark green parts (all the leaves embroidered with loops), as well as the pink butterfly wings and the yellow circles. These are all the elements that we transferred to the back side of the pillowcase.

Watch the process in the video.

Turn the pillowcase back to the front side and enjoy the embroidered loops 🙂 The remaining elements will be embroidered on the front side using different types of stitches.

Let’s continue with a short step: embroider the branches using dark brown yarn. These elements are stitched in a single row and will look their best if you make short stitches, as shown in the video.

Next, we will embroider the butterfly. This is a great element for learning additional decorative stitch techniques. We will divide it into several sections and embroider each one using a different type of stitch.

The small section beneath the already embroidered pink wings will be worked with long parallel stitches. These stitches can be used not only for specific elements but also as decorative details throughout an entire project. For example, they are perfect for embroidering fences, rooftops, flowers, and many other motifs. In this video, I use the same stitches to embroider marigold flowers.

For the butterfly, these stitches will be quite short, but in other projects they can be made much longer.

I have also included a separate demonstration of this stitch technique below.

These stitches are quite popular because they can be used to embroider virtually any element, regardless of its shape. (Spoiler alert: later on, we will also embroider the white flowers in the pattern using these same stitches.)

Now embroider several sections of the butterfly wing (the white and purple areas) using long parallel stitches.

Let’s finish embroidering the butterfly using both basic stitches and long parallel stitches. There will be a few important notes in the next video, so be sure to pay attention.

The two circles (the butterfly’s head and body), as well as the legs and antennae, should be embroidered with regular stitches. The long pink tail should be worked with long parallel stitches.

Let’s get started! 🦋

Now our task is to embroider the light green leaves and white flowers. We will stitch them using the same parallel stitches. As I mentioned before, these stitches are very versatile and allow you to embroider almost anything.

If needed, draw guidelines showing the direction of the needle movement, and keep practicing to build your skills.

Embroidery is a very creative process. And the more you embroider, the more ideas come to you. Believe me, I personally spent most of my life as far away from creativity as possible. I have a law degree, and there are no artists, musicians, performers, or anyone involved in creative fields in my family. I could never draw, sing, or do anything particularly artistic. The only thing I was good at was my legal career, which is highly structured and organized. Punch needle embroidery became my evening escape after work, and my first projects were nowhere near what I am able to create today.

So, why am I telling you this?

In about 90% of my projects, new ideas come to me while I’m working—adding an extra element, moving something around, or changing a color. To show you an example, we are now going to embroider flowers that are not included in the original pattern. Later, you can also use leftover yarn to add extra leaves, branches, or flowers. Your imagination is the only limit.

Draw a small five-petal flower anywhere on your design. These flowers will be tiny, but they will add extra charm to the embroidery.

The stitches will be quite small, so to save yarn, lower the needle setting. This will create shorter loops on the reverse side and, consequently, reduce yarn consumption.

After completing any embroidery project, it is important to spend a few minutes cleaning it up. This applies to all types of punch needle projects—pillowcases, rugs, wall hangings, and everything else.

• First, remove all trimmed yarn ends. Usually, as soon as I cut a yarn tail, I immediately push it to the back of the work so it does not interfere with embroidering other elements. However, while working on this pillowcase, I intentionally left some yarn ends on the front side so I could show you an example. If you also left trimmed yarn ends on the front side, carefully use an empty punch needle to push them through to the back. Once on the reverse side, trim all long yarn tails, as they may interfere with the next stage — securing the embroidery. In every project, we aim to keep the embroidery neat and tidy. Even the reverse side should be as flat as possible, without unnecessary bulk. Your goal is to remove as many excess yarn ends as possible.

• Next, use the empty needle on the front side to adjust any loops along the borders between different colors. In our design, this mainly applies to the leaves embroidered with loops. If some loops have become tangled or overlap one another, gently move them with the empty needle and place them back where they belong. This is completely normal — during embroidery, loops often shift around, and the edges of different elements may start to look uneven. Simply correct them by hand, using the empty needle to separate the loops and reposition them.
• If any loop stands higher than the surrounding loops, gently press the empty needle into the base of that loop and apply slight pressure. This will pull the loop back a little, reducing its height on the front side and helping it blend with the rest of the embroidery.
• Finally, warm the entire pillowcase with a hair dryer or an iron to remove any remaining marks from the disappearing fabric pen.

This is an important step for any embroidery project and adds a clean, professional finish to your work.

This is the stage that perfectionists probably won’t enjoy very much 🙂 Unfortunately, there are not many ways to secure punch needle embroidery, and none of them are particularly beautiful from the back.

In fact, about 90% of punch needle artists do not secure their embroidery at all. They embroider clothing, rugs, pillows, anything you can imagine, and leave the embroidery unsecured. I have spent years studying this craft and continue learning from other makers. In their work, adhesives are typically used only for tufted rugs made with a tufting gun.

From my observations, people tend to have a more relaxed attitude toward handmade products and fewer unrealistic expectations.

However, one of the very first concerns people have about punch needle embroidery is: Will it come apart? How does it stay in place? What if a dog, cat, or child pulls on it?  How can a thread come loose from a pillow? How do you wash it? How can you use a product like that?

I have been embroidering for many years and have developed a more relaxed attitude myself. I know that when the embroidery is done correctly—with proper technique, good tools, quality fabric that holds the yarn securely, and the correct loop height—the embroidery does not necessarily need to be secured. It can even be washed in a washing machine. (I recorded a video about this experiment quite a while ago.)

At home, I have small children and a dog, so I try to minimize the use of chemicals whenever possible. Because of that, I rarely glue items intended for personal use. However, everything I make for sale is secured, and I recommend that you do the same.

We will secure the embroidery using the special acrylic adhesive included in your kit. PVA glue and similar adhesives are not suitable because they are water-soluble and will not withstand washing. I have tested dozens of alternatives, including spray adhesives and sewing glues, but none of them hold punch needle embroidery as well—especially when working with yarn rather than fine thread.

Interfacing and fusible stabilizers are not suitable either. Punch needle embroidery is quite dimensional, and these materials simply cannot provide enough support.

What You Should Know About Securing Embroidery

• The easiest way to apply adhesive is while the project is still stretched in a hoop. Turn the pillowcase inside out and place it back into the hoop.
• Apply the adhesive in a very thin layer using a rubber brush. Adhesive naturally makes the embroidery stiffer and less flexible. To keep the finished piece soft and pliable, use only a thin layer. This is enough to secure the yarn without adding unnecessary weight.
• Apply the adhesive directly to the embroidered areas, trying not to get it on the pillowcase fabric itself. If you are working with dark fabrics or delicate materials, adhesive may seep through the fabric and become visible on the front side.
• Our goal is to bond the loops together. If you have a single isolated loop, simply place a small dot of adhesive on it—it will hold securely.
• Leave the embroidery to dry for at least 12 hours, although 24 hours is preferable.
• Keep the adhesive container tightly closed. Ideally, wrap it in plastic film as well. Limiting its exposure to air will prevent it from drying out too quickly.
• This adhesive can also be used to attach a backing immediately. For example, you can attach felt to wall hangings or artwork, or apply a non-slip backing to rugs. Simply spread the adhesive, place the backing material on top, and leave it to dry.