My two-sided patchwork cushion cover

Over the past few years I have handmade cushion covers for our home. I love having my own handmade cushions in our home and enjoy how they look on our teal coloured sofas. I get a lot of pleasure each time I plump up the cushions knowing that I've made them myself and that they are unique.

For a number of months I've had my heart set on creating a new cushion cover for our snuggler sofa seat in our lounge. I spend a lot of time on the snuggler reading magazines, drinking tea, enjoying a spot of crochet and catching up on reading blogs, so I wanted this cushion cover to be something special for one of my favourite spaces in our home. 

Last year I bought some fabric specifically for making handmade projects for our home. The fabric collection was put together using a mix of navy, teal and grey patterned fabrics. I wanted to use these fabrics to make the new cushion cover. I decided that this project would be something different and I was keen to create a patchwork cushion cover to include all the patterned fabrics that I love and to try out new techniques of piecing fabrics together. I wanted to make something that wasn't piecing squares and I wanted to create my own patchwork design rather than take it from a book.

I decided to embark on making a two-sided patchwork cushion cover. I knew that one side of the cushion was going to be randomly sized rectangles but I wasn't too sure what the other side would be. After some deliberation I decided that equilateral triangles would be a good contrast, I really love the way they look in other projects I've seen. 

I spent time recently at my sewing machine finishing the cushion and I'm really pleased with the result.

I love the way the colours and patterns work together...

and that I've created two different cushions in one!

I love seeing all my favourite fabrics in one place...

and seeing how using patchwork can brighten up our teal coloured sofa.

I'm really pleased that I have finished this project, it has been a work in progress for such a long time and I wasn't sure I'd ever finish it! I'm glad that I spent time pondering how I wanted it to look. I'm really delighted that I decided to take the plunge to make the cushion two sided and try out something new for me. Joining together the equilateral triangles was a challenge initially but as soon as I worked out what I was doing it was good fun. Having a small project to work on made piecing different patchwork shapes easy to handle and not too daunting. I think I'm ready to try making something for our home on a larger scale now so watch this space!

Have you got any work in progress projects you have yet to finish or have recently finished? I'd love to hear about them.

Patchwork cushion cover :: Work in Progress

After weeks of thinking and planning I've finally made a start on making the patchwork cushion cover. I had lots of ideas but have decided to go for a design with rows of different sized rectangles of fabric. I wanted it to look a little like bricks but not as structured. The cushion is being made to compliment our teal coloured sofa and add some gorgeous scandi style fabric to our lounge. It has taken a while to get to this stage as I needed time to think and focus on the project but I'm so pleased I've made a start.

Here are a few photos of my progress so far. 

I have cut all the pieces down to sizes I am happy with and have arranged the patterned fabric.

I've sewn the fabric pieces together, and now have the rows ready to sew together.

I love these fabrics and the colour combination. I'm not yet sure if I'm going to make piping, a zip or button fastening or how the back of the cushion will look yet but watch this space.

What patchwork or sewing projects are you working on at the moment?

Making a cushion

Making your own cushion is such a great way to practice a number of sewing techniques and add something unique to your home. A few months ago a good friend of mine moved into a beautiful furnished flat, decorated in a stylish black and white theme. The flat being furnished meant that my friend didn't have a lot of opportunity to add a bit of her style to the flat. Gradually an orange footstool, an orange rug and an orange throw were added to make the flat feel more like home, adding a touch of her style to the front room.

I wanted to help and decided to make a cushion that she could add to her front room. I haven’t made a cushion since I was at school so it was the perfect time to try again. As the cushion was going to be a surprise birthday gift I took a risk and decided to select the fabrics myself! I already had a colour theme, orange, so now I had to find a mix of fabrics that my friend would like. I searched on and off for a few months during the summer to find fabrics that would work together. I had a few pieces in my fabric stash and bought some new fabrics especially for the cushion, these included Summersville – Brush Strokes – Orange, Summersville – Scandi Floral – Orange, Simpatico – Straws Peachy and Nancy Murty S Dots Tangerine. I finally had the fabrics selected and so I made a start so that I could make the cushion in time for her visit to my flat.

After washing and pressing the fabric I decided to cut the fabric into strips. 

I spent time deciding the design of the cushion, I knew I wanted strips of fabric but I wasn't too sure how many I should cut and the arrangement of the design. I cut 9 strips of fabric, each measuring 2.5 inches wide by 18 inches long. I spent time arranging the strips then sewed the strips together using a quarter inch seam.

I wanted to create a cushion with a slightly different look on the other side of the cushion so that it could be used either way. I decided to select three of my favourite fabrics from the different options I had, and cut each strip 6.5 inches wide by 18 inches long. I sewed the three strips together with a quarter inch seam.

I pressed the fabric pieces, flattening the seams...I then set about adding a zip (40cm long)...

...and then making my own piping for the cushion.

Adding the zip and the piping to the fabric was hard and took some time to finish, I had to unpick the stitching a few times to get the look I wanted with the piping.

I made my own cushion pad using some plain cotton fabric and toy stuffing I already had in my stash.

As you can see the final cushion turned out really well (see photo at the top of the post and below). The second side of the cushion with three of my favourite fabrics looked good and meant that the cushion could be displayed either way.

I can't decide which side is my favourite. What do you think?

I’m so pleased that I made the cushion for my friend, seeing her face when she opened it and knowing that she liked it made me feel that the month or so of planning and finding the right fabric was worth it. The project taught me how to add piping to the cushion as well as a zip.

Having made this cushion it has spurred me on to make my own piped cushions for our flat. I've selected the fabric, I just need to sit down and make them.