Patch Happy

home-made patchwork sofa

Patches. Make me happy.

A few years ago I re-covered a very drab Ikea sofa in a grey leaf design:

It did look tasteful but after 5 years I thought the room needed an injection of colour. I have been saving up bits of upholstery fabric for a couple of years. A local fabric shop sells oddments for 50p each in beautiful reds, golds and blues. I had a few bits from charity shops and leftover robin-egg blue from the curtains I made which you can just about see.

I also had material from the Maureen stash (a stack of haberdashery I inherited from Great Aunty Maureen) including this lovely oriental style fabric that I had already used to make the bird cushions and a pale green one with pink roses that had been a pair of her curtains at some point but she was planning to recycle. Some of her fabric dated back to the early 1970s, which makes it quite vintage now, just like me. It is so very satisfying to finally use up fabric that had been saved for over 30 years - a tribute to a fellow hoarder.

Detail of Maureen fabrics 

It took about a week to complete and I finished it off with a matching cushion. The teal up-cycled cushions harmonise well.

Patchwork. It is like an infection. Now I can see all sorts of patching possibilities. Soon we will be living in a patchwork house.

up-cycled cushions and other things

upcycled cushions

I look back with fond memories on the Year of the Cape 2012 - it was a quietly celebrated. There were complications of the technical kind. However I think we need to put those times behind us now.

From their quiet unassuming attitude one might never suspect these lovely cushions started life as this:

capes should be left to superheroes and consulting detectives 

I much prefer to benefit from those hours of knitting by enjoying these cushions instead of the slightly ashamed slightly frustrated feeling I had every time I didn't wear the Pilar cape. And to keep them company I made these lovely soft faux-tweed fleecy grey cushion covers, replacing the white Ikea ones I made 5y ago to match the Ikea couch I upholstered (yes I know the white ones never really worked but they did the job) :

In with the new

Out with the old

Other things: My sewing table pincushion foam circles were inadvertently hoovered up so I used the opportunity to make some new ones using a baby bath sponge and...

1. A cut off from a cowl I knitted in the round which was slightly too big:

pincushion made from old cushion covers and off-cut knitting

 2. Patchwork car seat covers I made 5 years ago which had seen better days:

pincushion made from old patchwork seat cover

sewing desk replacements: better than the original foam circles

On the subject of pincushions this beautiful cross-stitched pincushion was made for me by my mum and is the pride and joy of my small collection:

cross stitched handmade pincushion by mum

Guest crafts: Ribbons - deceptively simple

My friend CathyCoo spent a very long time sewing in straight lines to make these lovely ribbon cushions.

Whilst it goes without saying that the fronts are delightful, I really like the backs a lot.

That comment didn't go down too well with CathyCoo. I wasn't supposed to be admiring the backs.

But I do really like the backs a lot....such lovely crisp lines, neat buttonholes and buttons perfectly spaced.

It's all in the little details.

Put another Bird on it Maureen cushions

Last year I spent a lovely holiday making slipcovers for the Allerum using some cheap and cheerful Ikea leaf fabric. For the curtains I bought a roll of beautiful silvery blue linen fabric from curtainfabricsonline - it has an antiquey french feel and when it arrived on a long tube I was so excited I think I trembled.

The sofa came with giant cushions which were looking a bit grubby, so I covered one side with the curtain fabric leftovers. On the other side my first attempt was a pastel Mondrian effect intended to complement my other cushions. The end result was unpleasant so I scrapped them and started again with the tried and trusted method of putting birds on them (see last post).
 
My Great Aunt Maureen was a great hoarder and I inherited her fabric stash (as well as knitting pins and vintage patterns) when she died a couple of yrs ago. I used some of this fabric as the background for the bird cushions and scraps from previous projects (including the curtains) to make the trees and birds. This was my first attempt at machine embroidery and I really enjoyed the feeling of producing casual lines- like sketching on fabric. I prefer the Nuthatch to the Chaffinch because it is a bit less busy.

Every time I look at the cushions I think of Maureen.

Nuthatch on Silver Birch

Nuhatch applique and machine embroidery

Chaffinch and Willow

Chaffinch detail