Those cushions again

Remember those patchwork quilted cushion covers?  Well the project has kind of grown a bit… But more of that later. 

 

I’m really rather pleased with them even though I know that they are far from perfect.  I have to say that the patchwork was by far the easiest bit.  Quilting the ‘pads’ to form the fronts was ahem ‘interesting’.  But attaching the cushion backs was a nightmare!

If I was to do them again I would choose a different wadding – this one was definitely to thick for the job.  Also investing in a ‘walking foot’ for my sewing machine would be a good move.  I’ve never used a walking foot before but I know that they are designed to help compensate for problems with differential feed.  This is when different layers of fabric move through your sewing machine at different rates which leads to all sorts of problems.  Everyone I’ve spoken to who has one has raved about it, so onto the shopping list it goes.

Now remember I mentioned that the project has sort of grown a bit?  Well the cushion covers were made from some charm squares I bought off the internet.  The seller only had squares of this particular fabric so it was only ever going to be cushions.  At least that’s what I thought.  Then I walked into one of my local fabric shops (one which I don’t go to much because I don’t like the atmosphere) and there sitting on the shelf were two rolls of fat quarters, one in the white and one in the cream.  You know what happened next don’t you.

Yup they are now at home in my fabric stash.  I’d like to say at this point that my fabric stash is tiny compared to my yarn stash so the addition of two rolls of fat quarters is a major thing.  I’m now imagining the cushions on my bed with a matching runner across the bottom.  Hmm……

Red Rose Cushion

Last year I bought some James Brett Marble Chunky yarn.  I’m a big fan of this stuff although I know it’s not to everyone's taste.  It comes in 200g balls and you get about 320m per ball.  It is an acrylic but I’m a great believer in there being a place for every type of yarn.  In my case the place this was destined for was home decor given the number of beasties I live with.  Jake the dog in particular is partial to a snuggle with a cushion.

So the plan was to knit up some cushion covers and perhaps a throw to go over the back of the sofa.

Well I finally managed to get started (it’s not my fault I was distracted by other pretty yarns….) and thought I’d share the first result with you.

Now at this stage I would like to point out that the actual yarn isn’t the sort of pink normally reserved for highlighter pens.  It’s much more red in real life.  However, given how tired I have been getting from my recent illness, I simply couldn’t be bothered photoshopping to get the correct the colour.  So you’ll just have to take my word for it.

I started by knitting the main cushion envelope with some rib at the ends to help keep it together at the back.  I’ll admit that this took a lot longer than I’d anticipated probably for two reasons :

1. The cushion I was planning to put in there is much larger than I originally thought
2. I’m knitting very slowly at the moment.  Again I’m blaming the recent flu illness.

Once completed I folded it over, sewed it up and voila - a plain cushion cover.

Next I made a much larger version of the knitted flower design that I used for the silk flowers.  I cast on a much longer row (but still in multiples of 6 stitches) and off I went.  The main difference was that I didn’t pull the yarn through after the last row, just cast off as normal.  This allows much more flexibility on the shape of the final flower given it’s size.

Finally this was sewed onto the cushion cover and placed on the sofa so I could see what it looks like.

The whole thing took one 200g ball and above you can see the tiny scrap of yarn left over.  Oh and Jake the dog snuggled straight up to it…