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?

Inspired by...The Festival of Quilts 2013

Last week I headed off to The Festival of Quilts at the NEC with a few work buddies. The whole event was really inspiring and it got me so excited about my fabric and crafty stash once more. The Festival of Quilts is 'the ultimate patchwork and quilting experience' and it didn't fail to impress. Three halls in the NEC were full to the brim of quilts, fabric and supplies to buy.

There were hundreds of quilts on display ranging from fine art quilts, contemporary quilts, traditional quilts, pictorial quilts and the impressive miniature quilts. I spent around 3 hours looking at the quilts while I was there. I was so impressed at the amount of work that had gone into every single one. I couldn't imagine how long these talented quilters had spent dreaming up their designs, cutting the fabric, piecing it together and then quilting and adding embroidery. Here are a few of my favourite details and parts of quilts that I saw. Unfortunately in my excitement I didn't make notes of all of the names of the quilts and who made them!

 

I loved the variety of quilting styles that were all brought together under one roof. I was so impressed at the level of detail that had gone into every quilt and how very different they all were. It made me want to find out more about the different styles and try them out for myself.

As part of the festival there were also hundreds of exhibitors and retailers selling equipment, fabrics and books. While I was at the festival I did indulge in a little shopping and I came away with two very helpful rulers from Creative Grids which I'm going to try out this weekend, and some gorgeous spotty and patterned teal fabric for a few projects I have planned.

Going to The Festival of Quilts 2013 has really inspired me to kick start a few projects I have been thinking about for some time. I've got many ideas of cushions and quilts I'd like to make and also a few embroidery pieces I want to try too. I plan to make a start on these projects over the next few months and will share with you how I'm getting on.

I hope that these examples of quilts inspire you to get some fabric and start making too!

Make a patchwork quilt in a weekend

Having woken from a creative slumber I decided to take on a personal challenge to create a patchwork quilt, in what turned out to be one weekend.

The quilt was a gift for Mr C's new niece, Alice, and I was keen to make a her a pretty patchwork quilt for her nursery. I completed a quilt last year and loved it so much that I thought I'd use the same way to make the quilt but add new fabrics to the design. I knew all the steps of how to make a patchwork quilt  so I thought that with this in mind I could get it made over two weekends of sewing.

Everything to make the quilt was planned and ready to go, I'd been thinking about it and looking at options for fabrics for a few weeks, bought a few in preparation and washed and pressed them ready to use. But things didn't quite turn out as I had hoped! I had planned two weekends to create the quilt, however I ended up feeling really unwell one weekend and spent the time in bed. With one weekend to go I set myself a challenge to get the quilt made in one weekend. We were meeting Alice for the first time at Sunday lunch and I really wanted to have it ready for then.

During the week I started to cut up 4.5 inch squares of fabric in preparation for assembling the quilt over the weekend. I wanted to create a quilt nine by nine squares, so a total of 81 squares were needed. It was a lot of cutting to be done!

On Saturday morning I got up early, put the kettle on and started to arrange the fabric squares cutting the final few, then arranged them from this....

and stitched them together to make this quilt top...

I wanted to make this quilt using all the colours of the rainbow. Each row should (almost) have each colour of the rainbow included making a fun bright quilt.

I sewed each square to the next creating nine rows in total. After all nine rows were complete I sewed each row to the next to make the top of the patchwork quilt. I then sewed a strip of white alphabet fabric to each side of the quilt top to frame the quilt. I created a quilt sandwich using pink spotty fabric and then quilted the patchwork top so it looked like this.

I love this effect of sewing across the squares. I used a pale pink cotton thread to blend in with the fabrics.

On Sunday morning I woke early to hand stitch the binding to the back of the quilt. I used a different method of sewing the binding to the quilt which worked so well and was so neat.

And here is the completed rainbow patchwork quilt...

I love the back of the quilt almost as much as the front, the pink fabric with white spots on is so pretty and delicate.

Sunday lunch arrived and we met Alice, here she is at two weeks old enjoying the first time on her rainbow patchwork quilt...

I loved making this quilt. From the time spent choosing the new fabrics, through to hand sewing the binding, I felt a real sense of achievement and the chance to get creative once more. It was a huge challenge to get this sewn together and completed in one weekend but I put the hours in, drank lots of tea and managed to keep motivated at every stage as I knew how useful the quilt will be and how much fun Alice will have playing on it while she grows up.

Handmade Patchwork Christmas Stocking

A Christmas stocking was something I had when I was younger and was a real tradition. I've been lusting after having one for a few years now so I decided the make one with my new patchwork skills that I taught myself earlier this year. I decided to set myself a bit of a sewing Christmas challenge and make one if I had time. This weekend I've been tied to my sewing machine, determined to make the patchwork stockings in time for Christmas day. This morning I finished one for Mr C and one for myself, I cant tell you how delighted I am with them.

I used a variety of red and white fabrics, ribbon, red ric-rack and big green buttons to create added detail to the top. Both stockings are lined with red gingham fabric and finished off with some pretty decorative stitching at the top.

I'm so excited to fill the stocking up with a few things that I've bought Mr C and start our new Christmas stocking tradition together. I will bring you a 'how to make' post in a week or so. I'm off to chill out before the big day.

Have a very merry Christmas and enjoy the holidays.

Quilting and patchwork update

I’m excited to tell you that I did indeed get the quilting bug after the day I spent in January (see The glorious world of fabrics and quilt making for details) learning some quilting basics. I couldn’t stop thinking about all the things I could make, from quilted cushions, to a kindle holder, to gifts for friends expecting arrivals of little people this year.

The one thing holding me back initially was the lack of equipment to make it work. After a long stretch of thinking and researching I decided to take the plunge and invest in some new things to help me. I bought a new sewing machine and went for a Janome DXL 603 with a free quilting kit. It was a sad moment when I decided that I really needed a new machine to replace the Frister Rossman Beaver 4 sewing machine. It is my Mum’s sewing machine and I learnt to sew on it during school so it’s the only machine I know. It’s a lovely machine but at 35 years old it doesn’t have the accessories that I need to quilt. Plus I should really return it to my Mum as I’ve had it on a long term long for quite some time!

Investing in a new machine was something that I had been thinking about for a while. This was always going to be a very big purchase, but luckily I found a great machine with a quilting set (an extension table and various feet to help me do free machine embroidery) which had all the features I wanted.

So since I bought the machine I’ve been collecting fabrics…These are from an Aladdin’s cave material shop in Bath called Country Threads that a fellow blogger, Jenny, featured on her blog The Button Jar, when she went on an embroidery class there. I wouldn’t have known that it existed as it is tucked away down a cobbled street in Bath. So I picked up some material…

Bought a big cutting mat, cutting ruler and rotary cutter from Creative Grids in a starter kit...

 

Spent time reading some books so I knew what to do to accurately cut up fabrics…

and put together some squares to start a project…

I haven’t decided what I’m doing yet with the squares that I’ve made. What I do know is that I had a great afternoon of selecting the fabrics to work together, playing on my new sewing machine and practising cutting the material. As easy as cutting sounds it was a challenge to ensure that I accurately measured the right size for the strips ready for the squares I created. I’ll keep you posted on my progress over the next few weeks. I think I'm hooked on quilting already!

Getting creative with fabric – special cushions for a special couple!

Take a look at this recent project in the pictures below that I have been working on with a few of my friends. I’ve been desperate to spill the beans but had to wait as it was a secret gift!

For a number of months a top secret dinner party had been planned for our friend Beth for the week before her wedding. A few friends and I wanted to create a special gift for Beth to take home after the party.  A personal and handmade gift was the plan and after some discussion and a few weeks of procrastination and project changes, we decided on a set of two cushions with the bride and groom’s name appliqued onto their own cushion.

In addition to their name on their own cushion we wanted to add some images that would mean something to them both. We decided to create a few embroidered pieces including a white snowflake, map of New Zealand, Cornish pasties and dog paw prints to form the four corners of the cushion. All four symbolise parts of their life so far that mean something close to their hearts. I embroidered the outline of a map of New Zealand and chose French knots for the simple design. I was delighted to do this part of the cushion as the country is close to my heart to as I travelled there at the start of the year.

 

My friend Kate found the fabulous patterned fabric squares on etsy and snapped them up quick to make a basis of the cushion, without these I really don’t think they would have looked as they do.  After a few evenings of hardwork and deliberation we put together the cushions using my Mum’s sewing machine. We made the cushions almost identical on the opposite side using a blue theme. Sarah found the checked fabric from an old shirt and ingeniously cut out the pockets for the cushion. We put a message in each pocket for the bride and groom on each cushion wishing them good luck for their lives together.

After weeks of waiting the day arrived for the party and we got together early to prepare the room and food, laying out glasses, blowing up cream balloons, adding silver snowflake table confetti to tables and lighting lots of tea lights. I made a heart garland to hang on the mirror in my lounge for Beth to take away with her too.

 

The girls and I were on the edge of our seats when we presented to Beth the large squidgy parcels wrapped up in brown paper and gold ribbon. Let’s just say they went down well! Even the groom liked the colours of his cushion as they matched the colours of the football team he supports, Norwich City.

The cushions were meant to be fun and hopefully will be out on display even if they are in the spare room! I think we successfully made something special for them to keep.

It certainly has inspired me to try a bit of quilt making on a larger scale and get stuck in to more crafty things for the home. I’ve started a love affair with my sewing machine...watch this space for new projects that will appear next year. I don’t know what to make first!