The Sewing Room

little_sarah_2

What a pain - 50p doesn't seem like much until you buy in bulk!

I've been testing out various bits - thought I was doing OK until my lovely hubby commented that "none of it's square!" :mad:

This is the wonky cushion:


I've made a mug rug too - the back looks terrible and I think I used the wrong thread - it was Gutterman's which my friend recommended, but it was too thick really.


I have a new nephew too so I'm making him a cushion to match his cousin's, who's 3 months older than him!

Editted because the pics are too big again and I can't sort it after a glass of wine! Pics on my blog again sorry!

rufusdog52

Hi Sarah, I had a look at your blog and think your work is lovely, dont worry about things being a bit wonky at the beginning, it all adds to the charm of hand made. The cushion top is really pretty and the mug rug looks like a brilliant idea.

I have been making a lot of cushions lately and at first they were coming out "not square" but then I started using my rotary cutter and mat on them and have found it such a help. What I do is I cut the fabric slightly larger than I want the cushion and then do my applique etc on it (would be the same as your patchwork and adding bits round the edges) then once I have finished decorating it I put it on the cutting mat and using a wide rule (I have one that is 6 inches wide and about 18 inches long) I get one side cut straight, then I line that up with the lines on the board and cut the opposite side so they are both parallel and then I turn the piece round and line up the bottom edge (one that I just cut) with a line going across the cutting board and trim the next side, then flip it right round and do the last side. Then I know my cushion front is an exact square. I then get the fabric I want for the backing and cut a rough square out a bit larger than I need and place my cushion front on top and using the rule and rotary cutter I cut it the same size as the other piece. Now the two sides will match up exactly when sewing and I get a much better result. Also its easier to get the zipper on the bottom when the pieces are all square and the same size.

Hope this might help you, you can have a look on my blog if you want to see some of my cushions. Some of them have embroidered sayings on the back which I attached a frame round like you have done. I made sure the middle square with the words on was perfectly square first like above before sewing on the sides.

I have followed your blog and look forward to seeing what else you come up with. Enjoy your wine, Rufus xx

little_sarah_2

Thank you Rufus! I've been using a rotary cutter, but I've only got a small mat so I'm finding it difficult to cut large pieces accurately. Hopefully practice will make perfect! I'm going to try an envelope back as I think attempting a zip might be a step too far - trying to run before I can walk...

Either way, it's for my lovely best friend who I know would say that she loves it even if it looks awful, so I know I'll get a good response

Kevie192

Hi all,

Here's the first thing I've EVER made! Reginald the sock monkey. He's a cheeky little thing, can't keep him off the pot plants!

Learned a lot making this and quite a few things I'll improve and do differently next time but im fairly pleased with him (apart from his mouth... Need to fix another way to do that!). Let me know what you think!

Kevin

hmo

rufusd!!!2 wrote: »

Lovely decorations Mooloo and lovely ipad case Hmo.

Went to Dunelm Mill this afternoon to get some wadding for my sofa and found they have put up the prices of all of them by 50p a metre, not good when you want to buy 10 metres of it!

thank you, i got a bargain in dunelm last week they had fabric that was still selling on the rolls at £14.50m but in a bargain bin they had an end of roll at £2.99m so i got £37.50;s worth of fabric for £7.50 to make my kitchen roman blind i will post a photo when its done.

sorry to hear yours had been put up in price though

Georgiabay

Kevin, Reginald looks great; there'll be no stopping you now!

Georgiabay

little_sarah, I really like both your cushions and the mug rug.

Keiss_21

hmo wrote: »

thank you, i got a bargain in dunelm last week they had fabric that was still selling on the rolls at £14.50m but in a bargain bin they had an end of roll at £2.99m so i got £37.50;s worth of fabric for £7.50 to make my kitchen roman blind i will post a photo when its done.

sorry to hear yours had been put up in price though

I got a bargain last week at DeM too. I found some lovely material to make bags with...but was still expensive, even after being reduced, so only asked for 1/2 a metre. When she scanned it, she found out that it was half the price on the label, so I got full metre instead!! Also got a roll-end of gold voile, should have been £5, but the assistant rescanned it and put it down to £2.99!! Got home and found it was nearly 2 metres rather than the 1 metre it said on the label ...bargain!!!:j:j Now all I need to do is use it all!!

rufusdog52

Kevin - what a lovely monkey, well done on your first item xx

Sarah - zips are not as bad as you think. I have started to use continuous zipping on my cushions. It takes a bit of practice getting the zipper pulls on the end but once you master it then its so simple.

What I do is have the zipper closed and pull it longer than the cushion then lay your front cushion piece right side up and place the zipper right side down so that the end that doesnt have the pull is at the top and using the zipper foot on your machine sew along the edge sewing the zipper onto the fabric. When you get to the end cut the threads and then turn the whole piece over and fold back the front where the zip is but leave a little so it covers half of the zip then top stitch down the side. Now place your lining face up and put the other side of the zipper face down on it so you are sewing from the zipper pull end and do the same again turning over after and top stitching the lining to the zip. Then pull the zipper along so its about half way down your cushion and cut the rest of the zipper off. Then you can just sew around the other three edges. Make sure you leave the zipper open or you wont be able to undo it.

VJW87

Right! I've got to go to the post office, but when I return, the sewing machine is coming out and being dusted off! It's a modern Singer bought from Aldi 4 years ago or something. I'm finding what scraps of fabric I have and all the equipment and I'm starting a quilt of some kind.
Was saying to myself I'd have to wait until I had cash for fabrics, but I know I have some various pink shades somewhere, and pink thread so there's no excuse. And having read back on here and the quilting thread I can use scraps from old shirts and pillowcases, no excuse. Thanks for the inspiration people!
(Secretly I am craving some snazzy Christmas fabrics and might have a look while I am out, but I promise to be good and try to stick to some sort of what's it called now...? Budget...!)