Sunday 28 June 2015

Wonder Cushion Tutorial

I never know what to do with my wonder clips, they rattle around in the bottom of my sewing bag, and so I got to thinking "If only there was a pincushion for wonder clips..." and so I made this, in about 20 minutes flat. A sewing frenzy, if you will.




 I haven't found anything like it out there on t'internet, so I thought I'd make a tutorial!

You will need:
5 2x4" scraps for the tags
4 1x5" pieces for the in between strips
2 2x5" pieces for the start and finish strips

1 5 x5" square for the back

heavy filling - rice, couscous etc.

1. Fold the 5 tag scraps in half lengthwise, right side together. Sew across the short ends.

 
2. Turn the tags right side out and press.
3. Take the start piece and lay a tag, centred, along the bottom edge, lay an inbetween strip over that, matching up the ends, pin and sew along the bottom edge, 1/4 inch seam of course!



4, Finger press the inbetween strip down, so you can see that the first tag has been neatly stitched inbetween the first and second strip.


5. Now lay the second tag, just as you did the first, and cover with the next inbetween strip. Sew along the bottom edge.

 
6, Repeat this until all 5 tags have been stitched in place, and the last piece is the last 2x5 strip. When you flip it over, it should look something like this underneath. I didn't press it with an iron, mostly because I didn't have it near, but I think finger pressing keeps some 'spring' in the fabric, which is good because you want the tags to stand up when the cushion is complete.
 
7. Place the top and bottom pieces, right sides together and sew around 3 and a half sides, leaving a largish space for turning. Turn inside out. Fill with something heavy, not too full, whipstitch the opening closed and you're done!
 


I can't wait to use my Wonder Cushion for my next binding session. If you make one of your own let me know!

Make and give away as many as you like, but please don't make them for commercial use. Thank you!

Friday 19 June 2015

Tom's Quilt

So my nephew is 9 this weekend, and some time ago I noticed a picture in his room that he had designed on the computer.

And I thought, "hmmm, that would be a great quilt"! And so I've made that great quilt!

The cat thinks it's great too!  The backing was a tad short thanks to a red pirate bandana I rashly chopped off my red fabric... But of course a pieced backing is always more exciting, and being a lazy bones, I wouldn't have bothered if I didn't have to!
And here's the lable

You can see the quilting here, rainbow variegated Gutterman Sulky 30 cotton- and a wavy stitch - thanks Amanda Jean for the inspiration! 

It was fun and quick. I love it, hope Tom does too!! 

linking up to Finish It Friday at Crazy Mom!
Crazymom quilts