Pretty cushions part II

I haven't done any crafting during the Christmas break, very unlike me, I know! well actually... not really! Not only am I a compulsive crafter, I'm also an insatiable bookworm and this year Santa got me a Kindle. So I have spent the largest part of the holidays playing with my new toy and reading, no, gobbling up, the Millennium trilogy (loved, loved, loved it!) and "We need to talk about Kevin" (very disturbing read!). What can I say? With the move to Bristol and the pre-Christmas madness, I hadn't had a chance to read a novel for over two months, I was a very famished bookworm...

Getting back to work, it's been reporting time all round and I've spent the whole of last week with my nose in spreadsheets and graphs. On Friday I was actually getting nauseous from all those numbers and I knew it was time for some heavy duty detox. Crafting seemed like the perfect antidote.

I still had two cushion covers for my studio to finish and after a healthy walk in the sunshine with some friends, I got to work. I managed to finish sewing it all right before the day was about to turn to dusk, leaving me with just enough daylight to take some pictures and post them on here.

The first cushion was heavily inspired by a Cath Kidston pattern in her sewing book. I like the finished product, it's rather cute and dainty, isn't it?

It took me a rather long time to decide what I was going to make for the last cushion. But then I remembered that I have these iron-on embroidery templates about all things crafty. And since this is for my crafting studio after all, I figured they'd be perfect. So I set out to make a patchwork cushion with empty blocks that could be embroidered with images of crafty objects. Nothing too challenging except I'm no expert embroiderer. But hey, it was a good opportunity to perfect my skills :-)

Unfortunately, the image doesn't show all the embroidery work in its full glory, but I'm sure you'll get the idea.

I wish I could say that's my cushion making adventures finished for a while but earlier this week I came across a pattern for a super cute owl cushion and I just can't resist, I have to make one...

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!

Chihuahua fever

My best friend lives far away, in Quebec to be precise. That means I don't get to see her as often as I would like to. But she's still my favourite friend and when it's her birthday, I want to make it a little bit special, in my own way.

This year I came across the Chi-Chi Fever pattern from Sublime Stitching whilst browsing in a shop and I instantly knew what I would be making for my girl. Did I mention she owns a chihuahua?




I decided to make a bag based on an Amy Butler pattern and embroider the chihuahuas on the main panels. I picked this pattern because it's a good size bag and because Amy Butler patterns are really easy to read.

Embroidering is still very new to me so I was taking a bit of a risk but it turned out all right. I didn't do any really fancy stitches just a simple split stitch along the main lines, a satin stitch on those areas I wanted to fill and then I made an attempt at French knots for the beads of the necklace.





It would have been better if I'd split the stranded cotton so the lines wouldn't look so thick. I also suspect that it would have made the detail work somewhat easier. But I didn't know at the time that you actually could/were supposed to split your thread. Practice and learn, I guess!

I really like the Amy Buttler pattern though. As expected, the instructions were clear and really easy to follow. If you use the fabrics and interfacing that she recommends, it makes for a very sturdy bag with a very professional finish.

All I needed to add was a little personal touch that would put my trademark on it and make it a wee bit more unique for the recipient.

It took longer than I thought to arrive to destination, in fact, I was starting to wonder whether it had gone lost in transit, but it's now safely in the hands of my friend and she loved it. Her husband actually thought I'd had it made! Now how flattering is that?!