Cushions, cushions and more cushions

September 18th 

Putting the drawn pattern behind the
material made it easy to embroider
any shape or pattern

At present my days are filled with crafting and not earning and I love it!  My work load is often quiet at this time of year and I have learnt to embrace it with both arms and make the most of it.  Knowing that this does not tend to last very long, I begin so many new projects and this week seems to be bursting with new things to try and do.  The first of this weeks makes was an embroidery cushion which was quick  (my favourite kind) and very therapeutic.   

How did this project begin?  Well, my son seems to be in a growing spurt and has jumped two year sizes in school shirts, having asked a couple of friends if their sons wanted them and being politely refused, I decided that the charity shops probably would not want them either, so it got me thinking...

...maybe I could use the back of his shirt as a front cover for a cushion...  I set to straight away.

I knew immediately that I wanted to base it on Scandinavian red embroidery work and so began googling various patterns, the Internet is full of free patterns and you could spend forever on there and not actually do anything!  Not one pattern was suitable, but I amalgamated a few and cobbled something that I was happy with. I drew out the design and then placed it behind the cut up shirt which was placed in an embroidery hoop and began to trace the pattern onto the material.  I have one of those disappearing ink pens for fabric which should in theory disappear after some time.  Mine must be old as the ink began to disappear within five minutes, meaning I could only trace a small section of the pattern at a time.  It was a race against the disappearing ink!

Embroidery and traced pattern,
beginning to disappear already

Progress was quick and I was able to sew
and sit with the children whilst they watched some TV

Front and back view

Almost finished, after a second evening

I had intended to back the cushion with a red fabric,
but instead opted for another section of a school shirt!

The cushion was lovely but looked lonely
on my sofa, so I have begun a second



This will be the main section of the second cushion,
 hope to finish it tomorrow...

These cushions would not win any awards, the stitching is uneven and they are not symmetrical, but they have cost me nothing except time as I had in house everything already. 

I think they make better cushions then they did school shirts!

♥It is almost the weekend,

cannot wait for the family to be together.♥