Tutorial: Cushion Pads

When you make a cushion, chances are you want an inner with a removable cover so it can be washed. Why spend a fiver on a cushion pad when you can make your own? This tutorial is pretty self explanatory, and can be adapted to different shapes and sizes. I’m going to give you details for making a bolster cushion inner in a later post- I really could do with one of those!

Muslin is good enough for this- you’ll find a lot of ready made cushion pads are made from even thinner stuff. Muslin is nice and cheap, and toy stuffing always comes in a huge bag when you only need a small bit for a project. So this means I’ve got a new cushion pad for almost no cost at all!

YOU WILL NEED
Two pieces of muslin 1/2″ bigger than the finished size, mine is a 16″ finished cushion and the pieces are 16 1/2″ x 16 1/2″
Toy stuffing
A sewing machine is handy to have

Sew the squares together with a 1/4″ seam around 3 1/2 of the sides leaving half a side open.

Clip the stitched corners and turn inside out.

Fill with toy stuffing. IIf you like a plump cushion, put loads in, it’s up to you how big you make it!

Squish the stuffing away from the opening .Sew the opening shut with a running stitch, it doesn’t have to be perfect. Use pins to keep it together if yours is a fat cushion and remove them before your needle reaches them.

Ta da! My homemade one is at the front, the ready made one is behind it, see the difference?

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Kaleidostar cushion complete

I’ve spent the last three days working on this cushion, sometimes paper piecing triangular sections for hours. I actually sewed and listened all the way through from Chris Evan’s Breakfast Show to the end of Steve Wright in the Afternoon on Monday whilst OH was sleeping as he’d just finished a night shift at 7am. Ken Bruce’s show always reminds me of being at my grandma’s house and the taste of roast pork with salty cabbage as it was on in the background. This is a good thing 🙂

Sorry for the lower quality pictures- I’m saving the good stuff for the magazine that the tutorial will be printed in. More on that when it happens.

Do you remember this post back in August where I showed you the mock up design? Well I took Simone‘s suggestion on board and called it the Kaleidostar cushion- thanks Simone!

The whole cushion is constructed from Oakshott shot cottons, specifically it’s the Oxblood, Apricot, Haematite and White Marble colours. They’re really nice to cut and to sew. I must say the Haematite grey is my favourite, I love the dimension in the different tone weft and weave threads.

I even put a fancy zip in with a flap for the very first time. I used this tutorial from Sew Mama Sew and adapted it ever so slightly to position the zip differently. It was easier than I thought!

Day 10 of Blogtoberfest today… are you getting bored of me yet?! 21 more posts to go!

Rose Star cushion

Earlier in the year, a block party was started to make English Paper Pieced Rose Star blocks and make a quilt. I was inspired reading Lucy’s blog and decided to have a play myself but there’s no way I have the patience to make a whole quilt. So I made this cushion!

I pieced it in front of the TV last night and machined it into a cushion this morning. I then put it in my Etsy shop this afternoon. What do you think?

For a vast array of beautiful rose stars be sure to check out this Flickr group.

Pascale’s Birthday

This is what I was working on on Friday morning whilst OH was sleeping off his night shift!

I whipped it up throughout Zoe Ball’s radio programme- nice and simple and made from a few pieces of a Rooftop Garden charm pack I had been sitting on for a while. The back is some kind of rusty colour Kona and I think the front white parts are a Kona solid of some sort too, I never keep track of what is what! It was for OH’s aunt whose birthday was about a month ago and we were a bit late sorting something out. I think she liked it.

I also made some personalised cake balls and she got an elephant head we found in an antiques shop in Tewkesbury earlier in the year…

Back tomorrow as I have finished my goldfinch quilt and I’m taking part in the second quarter of the finish a long 🙂

For more from me, I wrote an article on how to submit craft projects to magazines on the Craft Pimp blog today!

Sewing stuff

I made this cushion for my sister as a belated Christmas present. It was going to be 7 rows of felt petals but my sewing machine was struggling to get in over the layers and I was feeling lazy, so I stuck with 3 and a blob in the middle. It’s not the neatest thing ever but I was so fed up with it that it will do!

And this, well I’ve not told you about this yet. I’m making a tumbler quilt from layer cakes. I’ve only got 3 more rows to add to the top. It’s a bit boring and simple though, so I’ve decided to appliqué on a rather large Goldfinch. It’s not done yet, I need to satin stitch around the edges and add the feet and the beak detail before it’s done. I’m videoing this as a tutorial for the Craft Pimp blog and I will give you the link once it’s up!

I also managed to do a lot of cleaning and bake two lots of my brownies this weekend. The floor is down in my craft room too so I’m starting to move stuff in (anyone want to take two Billy bookcases with doors on off my hands?!), more pictures to come shortly…

One last thing. If you promote your business on Facebook, I wrote this article earlier in the week, it might be a useful read if you’re not au fait with all of the rules over there.

Sewing machine FAIL and a happy ending

I’ve had a bit of a stitchy fortnight, last weekend I completed my badger cushion and I LOVE it…

It’s by Gail Lawther as part of the Enchanted Forest range of designs. You stitch it from the back and cut away the excess fabric, then sew bias tape over the joins (or in my case I used a thin twill). I shrunk the original pattern down on the photocopier at work to make it cushion size and finished it with black corduroy. I have a hedgehog one to do too sometime, but as this took probably the best part of 10 hours to complete, they’re labour intensive cushions!

Then this weekend I’ve been trying to work on a bag by Charlie’s Aunt, however yesterday my sewing machine kept dropping stitches whilst sewing through a thick bit and now it wont even sew through a single piece of fabric- the top and bottom spools just aren’t friends anymore. 😦 I’ve tried adjusting the tension to every possible setting, I’ve deep cleaned the bobbin compartment, I’ve changed the needle twice and to no avail. This means I’m a bit behind on my sew alongs though I did fuse this this morning, I need to quilt it though before wednesday!

And here’s the bag- half finished. The corners are wonky and rubbish because of the number of times I sewed up the sides and had to go over my stitching. Needless to say its unsaleable and will be for me but I would love to give the pattern another go, I have lots of fabrics screaming to be used.

So what did I decide today? Well I saw this lovely AEG sewing machine on Argos which had all the features I was looking for and I decided instead of waiting for Santa I would need it sooner. Thankfully my new credit card (16 months free balance transfers!- I actually got very giddy about this when my application was approved *saddo*) nicely covers the amount and I have ordered it- should be delivered to work on tuesday afternoon- squee!

And now I’m making chutney with the ridiculous amount of cherry tomatoes that has just presented itself to me 🙂

I made something with fabric and it wasn’t a disaster!

Title says it all really. I decided this morning to print off the instruction manual for my cheap Lidl sewing machine and learn what all the different feet did. I cut a piece of vintage curtain 18″ x 42″ and hemmed the two shortest edges, before folding 12″ from the edge right sides together and sewing up the sides on both ends to make a simple slip cover for a 16″ cushion.

I decided to experiment a bit further and learned how to sew a buttonhole with the 4 step system I didn’t know my machine had, and even sewed on the buttons with the machine! It was an interesting experience and it isn’t exactly perfect- the back isn’t level for a start! Still I think this is great for a sewing-phobe like myself and I look forward to more adventures with simple sewing!

I also got an e-mail today advertising “Craftseller” magazine. It’s out quarterly starting tomorrow and is aimed specifically at those who make so much stuff their house is full and they want to sell some of it! I’m going to order a copy online to see what it is like, though I imagine it’s probably going to just be yet another multi-craft magazine out this year (I count this as the 4th new release since Feb!) and not teach me anything I don’t know. We will see!

Ulverscroft Grange craft fair, September 13th

This fair was a bit more successful than my last, I took £81 and amongst others, I sold these!

 

 

I also met Sam from Incy Wincy Stitches (http://www.incywincystitches.com/) who bought my starfish necklace (thanks!) and makes lovely buttons and other fabric-y bits and bobs like these:

 

And continuing the spider theme, Tickly Spider (http://www.ticklyspider.co.uk/), who only live a short distance from me were selling their primitive and rustic style goods. They bought some of my magnets- thank you!:

 

See you at the Barrow Craft Fair on November 2nd!