Blue velvet tree cushion

We had a lovely trip away to see family and friends in various parts of the South West (Somerset, Devon and Cornwall). A particular treat was spending time with my Auntie and Uncle. My Auntie has a lovely sewing room and has made some absolutely amazing quilts. She also showed me lots of old family photos and talked a little about her mother (my late grandmother) a keen dressmaker, adding colour in her descriptions of the black and white photos. It was an absolute joy and delight.

Since I came back I have made another 4 more of the flag cushions, which I won't do a photo of as they look pretty much like the first four. A friend sold lots of my cushions and bags at her school fair and made some money for the school which was wonderful, so I have an excuse now to sew some more things and fill my craft show storage bags ready for their Christmas fair.

However the latest make might be hard to part with, this is a 20" square cushion with a Sanderson vintage linen front, and an equally vintage blue velvet back. I trimmed the linen panel to remove the holes where it was in the sample book, and also centre the pattern on the cushion. I then made an insert to fit, and filled it with foam crumbs. Foam crumbs are really messy, so in the end I left the whole of one side open in the inner, carefully inserted the plastic bag of crumbs into the inner, removed the bag, shook it down and pinned and stitched the opening closed. Trying to feed the crumbs in through a handsized hole would have taken ages and made a mess of the sewing room.

The contrast in textures between the high quality upholstery linen front and the wonderfully soft velvet back is quite delightful.