Way back in the spring I attended the Knitting & Stitching show a

Olympia with a friend. At her suggestion I booked onto a beginners sewing class. It was a revelation not because of the sewing , I’d done bits and pieces of that since my childhood, but because sewing machine technology has moved on so much! I used a shiny machine with an adjustable speed limiter and it revolutionised sewing for me. I learnt on a treadle machine and never really adapted to electric. Now I have perfect control.

At the class we made very simple cushions. I subsequently moved into a new flat and set about beautifying it to my tastes (as much as you ever can when you rent…) I duly adjusted some ready made curtains to fit the windows generating scrap fabric. Then I took a trip to the remnants bin in John Lewis and got some rather nice fabrics to make front and backs for cushion covers.

Last weekend I sat down to start making cushion covers to match my curtains.

Step 1) cut front piece from plain cream fabric
Step 2) cut back pieces from coloured fabric
Step 3) pick motif from extra curtain fabric and cut it out neatly
Step 4) find centre on front price for cushion, pin motif on carefully, sew round it with a narrow zig zag. (I was more successful at centering on one cushion than the other)
Step 5) hem edges of pieces for the back (it is a really simple envelope cover design)
Step 6) assemble cover right sides together and hem all the way round.
Step 7) trim extra fabrics round corners to improve shape on finished item
Step 8) zig zag round all edges to neaten finish
Step 9) turn right side out, push corners out carefully, fill with cushion pad
Step 10) stand back and admire handiwork.

I made two and am really pleased with the results.

Thanks go to Ginny and Alicewho ran that workshop at Olympia which started this whole thing off.