Thursday 5 March 2015

Flower cushion for Mother


Last year my daughters bought me a beautiful cushion for Mothers Day - I loved it then and still love it now - and the grandchildren aren't allowed near it!!
So this year I thought I'd make one as a gift for my mother in law  -

I've used 1/2m natural coloured linen for the cushion cover -
for the cushion front cut 1 x 17" square, for the cushion backs cut 2 x 13 1/2" x 17"
For the flowers I used small pieces of blue, green, yellow and coral plain cottons to which I fused web - (like Heat'n'Bond, Steam a Seam, Bondaweb) to the wrong side before I cut the shapes.
I used Bigz Die 657117, http://www.sizzix.co.uk/product/657117/sizzix-bigz-die-flower-petal-power , to cut 6 petal in green and 6 in blue, and 1 centre in green and 1 in yellow
and Bigz Die 657114, http://www.sizzix.co.uk/product/657114/sizzix-bigz-die-flower-layers-9 , to cut the flowers, 1large and 1 small in yellow and coral.
Arrange the flowers quite high on the cushion front, so that there is room for the stitched stems and leaves, and I appliqued the flowers using a straight machine stitch, but you could use a zig zag stitch or hand stitch with back stitch or blanket stitch. For my stems and leaves I used a triple stitch on my sewing machine, but you could use stem stitch, back stitch or chain stitch, if you choose to stitch by hand.
 

The back of the cushion cover is made in 2 pieces, each with a 2" double fold along one long edge. Stitch buttonholes along the middle of one double fold, and then stitch the buttons on the other double fold - to match the buttonholes.
 
Do the buttons up and then lay the cushion front and back right sides together. Pin around all 4 sides and then stitch, with a 1/2" seam. I neatened the raw edges with a zig zag machine stitch.
Undo the buttons and then turn the cushion cover the right way out .
I think this is lovely for a gift for Mothers Day - I might even make one for myself!
Now progress on the baby quilts hit a stop sign at the weekend because I wasn't well - but I'm taking them to Glasgow with me - hoping that I can sew in my hotel room, in the evenings, after the show each day! Well let's wait until next week to see if that happened.
Enjoy the early spring sunshine and keep sewing!
Angela
 

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