Making a cushion cover, part 1

1. Choosing fabrics

My latest find

Remember that lovely vintage fabric I got the other day – want to make a cushion cover with me? I’m raring to go ahead and make something with it. As the enthusiasm grips me, it occurred to me I could share my process with you, from the ideas stage to the finished cover.  I know I didn’t ask whether you’d be interested in this or not, I just made the assumption that of course you would! But since I’m foisting it upon you, feel free to leave your comments as I go along.  Let me know what you think about the process I use and why not let us into a secret and tell us what your design process is like! I wonder if you’re more organised and structured than I am? I tend to go with the flow a bit, which I’m sure you’ll see for yourself, if I shut up and get on with it!

I’ve decided to make a pair of matching cushion/pillow covers, don’t really know why, I just fancy it!  I think it’s probably got something to do with the fact that I won’t have to purchase lots of fabric that a quilt might need, and also that I enjoy experimenting with small things. It’s a great opportunity to try out techniques, styles and colourways – I think I’m still trying to find my own way, my own preferences.

My design approach is fairly intuitive, so I’ve begun the whole process by just looking at the fabric.  It’s got some large motifs that I’d like to use, almost like individual images.  I envisage these as being the central focus, but I don’t want to make something that’s simply a square of the fabric with some outline quilting.  Somehow I want to add something to it; I want it to be contemporary and I’m thinking maybe I can achieve that by balancing the strong vintage floral imagery with something equally strong.  So the next stage is just to add some fabrics around it and see what happens…

Maybe black would add a strong contrast? Nope, don't like that, it 'deadens' the colours too much. Love the white though, think it frames the lillies well.

The plain green is just the right tone... and that Kaffe Fassett sripe is the sort of bold I I'm talking about.

And how about some bright contrasting threads for the quilting? Feel like I'm getting somewhere already, - it's not always this quick you know!

I think that’s the fabrics sorted (no agonsising – now that’s unusual!) – I’m really excited by the simplicity and boldness of it and don’t want to overcomplicate it. The next step is to think about the actual patchwork design, I’ve got a few ideas floating around, but I’ll save that for the next post, I’m off to play with some scissors now!  Don’t forget to share your early stages of design in the comments, it would be lovely to have a chat about it!

See you soon.

love Stephie x

PS – I’m still working on the blog design and layout, as I hope you can tell!  I thought I’d try out some different navigation this time, losing that tag-cloud being the main difference.  Let me know if you can still find things easily enough though, or whether you want the tags back!