Thankful, Grateful Blessed Cushion

I need some new cushions for my lounge room, so I think this is a great opportunity to add some brightness to the room, and to give all of the family a reminder of how lucky we all are. So I am making cushions from the Free Thankful Thursday Designs.

This week I have chosen the Thankful, Grateful Blessed Design.

To create my cushions, I generally go straight past the cushion fillers in the shops, these will generally run be from between $8 and $15 dollars each. At my local K-mart, I can purchase a cushion for $5 that I will use as the filler.

I like to create a flange pillow cover (which is a piece of fabric that extends well beyond the seam, giving the pillow a soft, fluttery effect), with an envelope opening simply because it is the easiest to create.

Notes

• All seam allowances are 1cm unless otherwise stated.

Requirements

• 1m bright coloured medium weight cotton drill fabric.
• Cushion, mine is 42cm square, or 16.5”
• Embroidery threads 3 bright contrasting colours
• Bobbin fill
• TearClean© Stabiliser
• Thankful, Grateful, Blessed Design from Julie Hall Design – available as a free design for a further 3 weeks.
• Sewing thread to match your cotton drill fabric
• Embroiders Felt 49cm square

Instructions

1. Measure your cushion (mine is 42cm square)
2. Add 7cm to your measurement, to allow for seam allowance and the flange.
3. From the main fabric, cut the cushion top (mine will be 49cm square)
4. Cut another two pieces of fabric, 49cm x 40cm, which will allow for the overlapping envelope closure.
5. Take the main fabric, and using your iron, mark up the centre points of the fabric.
6. Using your TearClean© stabiliser, hoop together the TearClean©, Embroiders Felt and Main fabric, ready for embroidery.
   
7. Load your embroidery design, and stitch out your Thankful, Grateful, Blessed Design.
8. Once embroidery is complete, press with a warm iron, and remove any excess stabiliser.
   
9. Lay the embroidered fabric, with the design showing on a flat surface.
10. Take the two additional pieces of fabric, and lay on top of the cushion cover. Fold back approximately 10cm of the short side of the fabric, and press.
    
11. Repeat step 10 from the opposite side of the cushion, and you should have the entire cushion top covered.
    
12. Pin around the edge of the cushion, and stitch using a 1cm seam allowance.
    
13. Trim away the corners, and turn right sides out and press, ensuring the edges look neat.
    
14. Measure 2.5cm (1”) in around the edge of the cushion, and mark with a chalk marker.
    
15. Pin to ensure the flange doesn’t move as you are stitching, and stitch around the chalk markings.
    
16. To complete the cushion, take your cushion insert and place inside the cushion cover.