Cushions

Crochet ‘Keeping It Cosy’ dachshund cushion pattern

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I’ve been working on a few makes recently all of which have a dog theme to them – I decided to group them all together and have a dog themed month of makes a few months ago whilst working on some blankets so be prepared for a couple more over the next few weeks!

First up is a new dachshund themed cushion, this one is keeping extra warm in the chilly weather and has gone and got themselves a little jumper to wear!

I went for a wrap around design on this cushion so the rest of the body and kegs go around to the back of the cushion, this also means you could do have two of these cuties together side by side, one with the front section and one with the back section on show.

Pattern for this is available on my Etsy and Ravelry shops:

https://www.ravelry.com/designers/hookstitch-sew

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/HookStitchSew

Sewing Tutorial: Monster Reading Cushion With Book Storage Pocket

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This monster reading cushion is perfect for keeping a close eye (or two or maybe even three!) on your books!

I wanted to make a reading cushion and wanted a slightly different design, my eye then spotted the Cutest Little Monsters fat quarter set which I was gifted by The Craft Cotton Company and I knew I had to make a monster themed cushion!

What I love about this cushion is you can use the base cushion pattern and change the face details completely to get what ever monster you want just by adding a few more (or less) eyes, changing the hair or even the teeth. Even just changing the colours around will give a completely different looking monster.

The pattern to make this is now available over on The Craft Cotton Company blog.

Sewing Tutorial: Woven Love Heart Cushion

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I wanted to make a heart themed cushion – but wanted something a little different than normal, and after a bit of thinking and a few sketches of ideas I decided I wanted to try and do a woven heart appliqué cushion. I wasn’t too sure whether it would work as it’s been a long time since I made any woven paper hearts and I didn’t know I’d it would look as good using fabric instead. After a few disasters with making the paper templates I got my paper pattern for the heart sorted and got cracking on with cutting it out and sewing it to the cushion front.

I am really glad I went with this woven heart idea as it’s worked out really well – I’m thinking of doing a cushion with a few smaller versions of the hearts in different colours next!

The fabric is from the Nursery Basics fat quarter set and was gifted by The Craft Cotton Company, and the tutorial to make one is available over on their blog:

Crochet Circles Texture Cushion Pattern: ‘Round In Circles’

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Going round and round in circles with a ‘Round In Circles’ cushion

I really love my ‘Round In Circles’ blanket and wanted to make something else with the same stitch. After a little bit of thinking I started on making a cushion to go with my ‘Going Wavy’ cushion as I knew they would look really good together, especially with them both using the same colours.

I think this stitch gives a really good texture, and have a few more ideas in mind of some projects it would work great with – keep an eye out for some in the future!

Pattern for this cushion is now available on my Etsy and Ravelry shops.

Stitching up a hoot-tastic owl!

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As I obviously don’t have enough projects on the go at the moment, I have decided to add another to the list – as a slight excuse it is already started I will just be finishing it off! I do find it hard to just focus on one project, I need the chaos of having a lot to pick from and means when I’m not in the mood for crochet or quilting I can pull out this cross stitch!

This owl cross stitch project I have had my eye on for a while – I have even got the fabric to make it into a cushion when I have finished it! I have made so many cushions for other people I thought it was about time I got around to doing one for myself! I saw this pattern in 365 cross stitch designs volume 2. And just loved the pattern and the colours they have used. I got it started just before Christmas, but it got pushed to the bottom of my cross stitch box as I had a lot of projects I had to get finished for Christmas. Luckily it hasn’t suffered the same fate as my blackwork project and got lost for a few years, as I came across it again the other day while clearing out my box to see how many half finished things I actually had in there, luckily this was the last one, and I decided I need to get it finished!

I have chosen to sew this onto a 28 count Ivory even-weave fabric. I think it’s coming out great, and the colours are brilliant! Can’t wait to get it finished!

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I saved the biggest until last. A cross stitch flowery flurry is ready just in time

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I had three cross stitch cushions to complete this year for gifts and this final one has taken by far the longest to complete. It was a much bigger pattern than the previous two and had much more detail and I didn’t think it was going to end! But, I have finally managed to get through the mountain of crosses and what seemed to be never-ending backstitching. I was a bit worried that once I had finished all of the crosses, the pattern wasn’t going to stand out very well but the backstitching in the pattern did its job and pulled it all together brilliantly. The pattern is from 365 Cross Stitch Designs (Volume 2)

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Once completed, I created the pillow. I didn’t fabric ‘frame’ the front of the cushion like the previous two as I think the picture itself was enough detail for the front and I didn’t want it to be overshadowed by any fabric colours. I again did a back flap cushion so there I wouldn’t need to fit a zip. I found a red flowery fabric in my stash and used it for the back, which I think complements the colours in the cross stitch really well.

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I cut two pieces for fabric for the back (one for each flap) and made sure I cut them big enough so that I could fold the fabric in half to create each flap. This meant I didn’t have to hem each of them and it also gives the back a bit more strength rather than just having a single thickness of fabric. I then laid them right sides together with the cross-stitch picture, ensuring there was an overlap on the two back flap pieces. Once I had sewn them together I turned it the right way and then pinned a line about 1 inch from the edge the whole way around the cushion. I then sewed along this line the whole way around the cushion. I choose a light blue shade of thread to do this so that it would stand out slightly and it also matched the blue that was used in the circle border of the cross-stitch pattern. This line gives a bit of a border to the cushion without using fabric and I think it finishes the edges off nicely, rather than just having the cushion going straight to the edge.IMG_3680 2

 

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This cushion turned out even better than I had hoped and I’m really pleased with it. It’s a shame I cant keep it for myself!