Saturday 9 February 2013

Comfy, Deer?




Having recently put myself through the gruelling task of making my first set of curtains (a nightmare to say the least, which certainly will not be followed with a ‘how to’ blog post) I purchased way too much lovely fabric, consequently finding myself with leftovers that were just too good to for the local school textile bin.

So I decided to make a cushion! - As you do.

These cushions are easy if you have the patience and although I used a sewing machine, this is not necessarily required, although additional patience is.

What you will need is two pieces of fabric measuring 40cmx40cm (16x16”) if you head to your nearest haberdashery shop they usually have a remnants bin where you can have a rummage and find the most delightful cast-offs or end of roll scraps. Alternatively, you could just buy some fabric, and ½ meter should be more than enough. If you did want to create a silhouette design on the cushion, proceed to buy some contrasting fabric, as you can see, I went for black. You will also need a cushion pad, which again you can get from the haberdashery. You could also remove the current cover off an old cushion and use that pad instead.




Recap of materials


  • ½ meter of fabric or two pieces that will cut to 40x40cm
  • One piece of contrasting fabric – use felt if you’ve not got a sewing machine, or if you’re not that great on one.
  • Matching cotton to your main fabric
  • A template for your chosen design. If you’d like a stag head, feel free to download my template here.

So are you ready? Then Let’s get sewing!

1. Cut your fabric into two square pieces measuring 40x40cm (16x16”)

2. Use your template to cut your design out of the contrasting fabric or felt, then pin into place, centrally onto one of your square pieces of fabric.




3. Sew the design onto your fabric using a small zigzag stitch to prevent fraying. This can be tricky, I’d grab that patience from your list for this step.  
If hand sewing or using felt, you just need to securely hand sew the design into place using a running straight stitch (weave the needle in and out of the fabrics in a straight line).




4. Take the two pieces of fabric, place them on top of each other (pattern inwards) and pin into place 1cm away from the edge.  You want your pillow to be nice and snug if you’re wondering why it measures smaller than the cushion pad.




5. Now, take a seat in front of the sewing machine, blast your favourite tunes and get sewing along the pinned line.
WAIT. Take it easy as you’re only sewing up 3 of the 4 edges. Make sure that your open edge is the bottom of the cushion so your hand stitching that you’ll be doing later on will be less noticeable.
Again, if you’re hand-stitching this step, use a straight stitch.


6. Once your 3 edges are sewn, turn the fabric inside out to reveal your almost complete cushion cover. Stuff the cushion pad comfortably in it’s new home and take a moment to admire. It looks great doesn’t it?

Any patience left? I hope so as the final steps are a tad fiddly and may lead to you using vocabulary that your mother would rather you not.
Breathe. You’re almost there.

7. Carefully pinch the seam inwards, around 1cm each side and carefully pin into place.







8. Using a needle and thread, proceed to oversew the ends together. Make sure your stitches are small close together.








9. Once you’ve sewn the final stitch, take your newly finished cushion and head to a comfiest spot you can find…

It’s nap time.



N x

Isle of Wight Garlic Festival 2012

This isn't just any Isle of Wight Festival, this is the Isle of Wight Garlic Festival

Having just about washed the final stench of garlic that clung on to me, I decided it was time to finally post the pictures from last years Garlic Festival.

With live cooking demonstrations, archery, corn on the cob dripping in garlic butter, food tastings in almost every tent, over 70 varieties of garlic on offer, live music, antique stalls and of course practically everything edible was somehow infused with garlic, I'd pick this festival over Glastonbury any day! - Nothing to do with me being unsuccessful getting a Glasto ticket or anything. Ahem.

The only thing I wouldn't recommend is the garlic beer *shiver* that lumpy liquid still makes me a little sick in the mouth at the thought, but other than that, a stinking good time was had by all. 

The 2013 Garlic Festival takes place on the 17th and 18th August 2013
http://www.garlic-festival.co.uk/ 
























N x