Saturday 21 January 2012

1930's style patchwork cushion.

Ooo...you are a lovely bunch, thank you for all the Granny Pilley quilt love and Sally...get your great granny's quilt top out and make it into a quilt anyway you can! I'm sure if your great granny had a sewing machine at the time she would have used it. You need to give it life so that it can be loved and used as it was meant to be. Go on you can do it, we're all behind you.
After my first little experiment with joining hexagons by machine I thought I'd have another go, so I used some lovely 1930's style fabrics that I had left over from a previous project.

As you can probably tell by the photos, it's a little bit fiddly, but still certainly quicker than piecing by hand.

This the front before I pressed it.

There we go, pressed and a border attached basically so I could see the hexys framed. I only had a few squares of the 30's fabric, that's why it's only a small patch of hexys.

Not sure what to do next or even what I was making, I cut little 1 x 2 inch rectangles from the scraps of fabric left from each one of the squares that I'd cut the hexys from. (I hate to waste anything, lol.) And then I stitched them together and attached them around the edge. Once I done this my piece was almost large enough to make the front of a cushion cover, so another little trip to my fabric cupboard and another round of edging and I was ready to quilt my piece.

I chose to quilt the patchwork as I don't like to have all the raw edges of the patches inside my cushion cover, I like to have a backing on it so that all those raw edges are hidden away. So as I was putting a backing fabric on I thought I might as well put a piece of wadding in between. I laid my patchwork on a slightly larger piece of wadding and then laid these both on a larger piece of muslin. It's done this way because your work will shrink up slightly as you quilt it and you don't want to find that you're loosing your backing behind the edges of your front!


Once I'd finished quilting the front I trimmed off the excess muslin and wadding and stitched on a simple envelope back, and Bobs your uncle!

A 1930's style patchwork cushion, lovely in the kitchen or perfectly perfect for a little persons playroom, very soft and snuggly.



Next time we really must catch up with some felting before I forget about it completely!


love fi x


22 comments:

Lyn said...

Love the cushion, great colours. Lyn x

Claire said...

Hey Fi, I love the little hexies and the fabrics you used..

It looks wonderful all finished and ready for it's new home.
Hope your weekend is going well,

Claire :}

Elderberry-Rob said...

Colours and fabrics are very pretty. Looking forward to the felt post especially. Betty

Pene said...

oh your brave machine sewing hexies!! But have to say cushion is lovely so well worth the effort I think.

Unknown said...

Beautiful love the fabrics and colours. I wouldn't attempt at sewing them by machine so you were very brave. I made my hexagon quilt by hand but machine quilted it at the end. I found it very relaxing and such a great sense of achievement i find the machine boring at times. Enjoy the rest of your weekend, dee x

heartsofhampshire said...

That is really lovely, as all your work is. It's a great set of pictures for the process , you really do have a great deal of patience!
Regards Heather x x

The Patchwork Heart said...

Gorgeous colours and fabrics Fi and beautiful work as ever! which do you find best etsy or folksy? i have a little on Folksy but find it poor sadly and wonder if I should try etsy?
Heather x

Between Me and You said...

What a pretty cushion and so well done. Reminds me of my patchwork and quilting days before it gave me carpal tunnel syndrome and I had to stop. I love that fleecy wadding you can buy but it's so expensive. I ended up buying those cheapie fleece blankets from Ikea and using them.Look forward to your felt post too.

Gilly Tee said...

Those fabrics are lovely and the cushion looks great.
Gillx

Annie said...

How pretty Fi. You really are feeding my need to have another go at patchwork......if only there were more hours in each day!
Thanks to your encouragement I am still doing at least 20 minutes of crafting every day.....and loving it :-)
Hugs,
A x

Anonymous said...

It's funny how sometimes it's sewing by hand that seems the easier way, yet others it is using the sewing machine. Thank goodness for options!

Lovely cushion!

Shortbread and Ginger said...

It is gorgeous!
Liz @ Shortbread & Ginger

jill said...

Hi, lovely cushion made with lovely fabric and colours.Love Jill xx

Little Blue Mouse said...

Ooh, that's lovely!

KC'sCourt! said...

Wonderful cushion
Julie xxxxxxxx

Cathy at PotterJotter said...

It's the height of gorgeousness - as usual. Cathy x

The Weaver of Grass said...

Nice one Fi. Have missed you for the last few days. Are you having snow up your way? Think you must be as the river is so full down here and we have had no rain.

Maggie Ann said...

How pretty and homey your cushion is! I wish I had just half of your 'get up & go'. =) (energy & enthusiasm)

silverpebble said...

Oh wonderful - you really have captured 1930s colours with this cushion. I was watching a rerun of the Landgirls the other day. This would have been perfect for them to sit on.

Cheryl said...

I'm on the last stretch of hand sewing my hexi quilt. I love the hand sewing process, but I am very tempted to do it by machine next time. I love how your cushion turned out.

Gem said...

I love this! The fabrics are gorgeous :)

Gem x

Boltonjpcq said...

It is gorgeous! Liz @ Shortbread & Ginger