Friday 22 February 2013

Finishing Along......

I managed some good, quality sewing time this week. First up was one of my finish along projects, my EPP Ferris Wheel.
I made most of this on holiday last Summer and had a notion to make it into a cushion cover for my large floor cushion. Trouble was, the finished piece was larger than my cushion in one direction and I couldn't bear the thought of cutting away what I had painstakingly stitched. Then I thought if I oriented it landscape and made a wrap around cover, it would all work out. So I catalogued most of the process as I thought both the cushion making and the dealing with finished EPP might be of interest to one or two of you out there.
I had bought 1m of solid cotton in pretty much the same shade of green that is in the patchwork.
To find out how wide my fabric should be for the wrap around, I wrapped my tape measure around the cushion.The cushion is an Ikea one, and quite squidgy, I allowed about 4" of an overlap. (But now wish I had allowed more)
I didn't want to just plonk the EPP panel onto my metre of fabric and applique all around - I am stingy like that - so I cut some strips for two of the edges to be attached to. These were about 3" wide.
I ironed the strips in half, lengthways, to give me a mark for guidance.
And then I laid the panel down along the fold line & pinned.

I then carefully stitched them together, using my trusty machine applique stitch.
So that's the top & bottom done.
I cut side pieces that would result in a finished size that would wrap around - this is a one- piece cushion cover.
Time to layer it up - I pretty much always use Hobbs 80/20 wadding and for a backing (which of course, will be hidden inside the cushion), I used an old cotton sheet. Using my beloved wiggly stitch, I decided to quilt right through the EPP following the squares and hexies, I reckoned that would be nice and simple.
But, I had a bit of a hiccup when I was quilting happily through squares and hexies and suddenly arrived at a triangle - hmm? What was happening?
Can you spot the mistake?
Yep, the purple block top centre has been stitched in at "6 o'clock" instead of "ten to two"- duh, if only I had noticed in the six months or so it lay about waiting to be progressed.........ah well! I just continued, it won't really bother me too much.
When I finished the quilting, I trimmed and bound the short ends, using single fold binding. I seem to have forgotten to photograph this step.
I then centred the "quilt" onto the cushion so I knew where the fold lines should be - folded it right sides together and then all that was left was to stitch top & bottom seams. I used a wider seam allowance than usual and reinforced the stitching over the thicker parts where the layers overlap.
The finished article is just a wee bit roomy for the cushion - I might re-visit the seams (or I might not), and I need to address the overlap with maybe a bit of velcro, or if I feel really ambitious, a buttonhole or two and some posh buttons.
                                                  But for now, I claim this as an official finish!!
                                                             And now my ta dah moment!

And the wee mistake? I aint bothered........





13 comments:

  1. That looks brilliant and I love your all in one method! Mistake? Pah! No one will notice and we wont tell.

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  2. I aint bothered either ;-) Oh Sheila - it's gorgeous and I shall be stealing this tute when I eventually finish my ferris wheels as I'm sure mine will be too big as well!

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  3. You will be the only person who knows its there. It looks fantastic

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  4. If you hadn't pointed out your mistake, I wouldnt have noticed. Im not bothered by it either. This is perfect timing for me, I need to appliqué the starflowers to a background very soon, thank you. Thanks too for the how to on making a wrapped cushion, that's nice and easy and looks fabulous.

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  5. There's no way on earth I would have noticed that 'design change'! Fantastic finish to many hours of EPP! Jxo

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  6. Great method, and what's wrong with a bit of character? - I like it! x

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  7. Wow, that was lots of headachey maths! And that wasn't a mistake, it was a feature ;o)

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  8. Oh yes.Yes YES! Absolutely super finish. Was that your oldest UFO?
    Very pretty Ferris Wheels Sheila. Looks just like flowers up a trellis....and the cushion looks great on that outdoor bench.

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  9. Absolutely beautiful, and not in a million years would I have noticed the glitch! I think button closures would be fantastic!

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  10. Beautiful finish. Your design change is not noticeable at all. You have a beautiful cushion cover now. Di x

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  11. It looks lovely, modifications and all. I love the fussy cutting around the tulips and daisies!

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  12. It looks lovely, modifications and all. I love the fussy cutting around the tulips and daisies!

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