Pretty cushions part I

Amid all the Christmas prep, I have also been making some cushions for the sleeper sofa in my hobby room. I'd hoped I could have showed you the whole set in one go but time has run out and my priority has shifted to more Christmas making rather than finishing my cushions. So here's a first look at the couple of cushions I have managed to finish.

When I visited the Knitting and Stitching Show at Ally Pally, I completely fell in love with the Sevenberry fabrics. I decided to order some and make a patchwork Union Jack out of them. As I'm pretty new to patchwork, I've completely misjudged how much fabric I'd need and I bought far too much! So I decided to carry on and make a whole set of matching, yet different cushions.

The Union Jack was quite a challenge as I had to draw the pattern on my own. Who knew there were so many pieces in a Union Jack? To get me started, I printed one on paper, measured each part and upscaled the measurements to fit a 30 x 50cm cushion. Then I drew it on a piece of pattern paper and chopped it up (sshhh, apparently this is treason!) so I could stick it on another piece of pattern paper and add the seam allowance for each part.

And then I chopped it up again (now I'll be sent to the gallows for sure!) so I could cut the fabrics.

The stitching of so many parts at so many different angles presented its own challenges but I got there in the end. The seams don't meet perfectly in one or two places but overall, I think I've done rather well!

The next cushion was inspired by the cover of a book called Stitch with Love. Luckily I had Cath Kidston's sewing book to help me sew an appliqué the simple way. And this is the result of my labour of love:

You'll have to wait until the new year now to see my other two cushion creations!