Cushion covers

 These cushion covers were a kind of commission/Christmas gift. My Mum has two larger-than-average cushions that she wanted covers for, and having dropped a couple of massive hints, and told me the size of the cushions, she left me to it.




The design is all my own - the slashed effect was in my mind all along, but the actual dimensions got worked out as I went along. The slashes were created by sewing in panels of a contrasting fabric, with a slight overlap - in a similar way to stitching in a regular zip. I then alternated opening and closing the overlap, holding it in place with a few hand-stitches.

The detail I am proudest of in these cushions is the piping. I had never attempted adding piping to anything before. Here I made it from scratch - wrapping cord in the same contrast fabric I used in the slashes, before attaching it around the edges of the front panels. I really like the effect, and the way it pulls all the details together.


As an interesting aside, we are always told to photograph pieces in natural light. My Dad took these photos of the completed cushions (you can tell by the superior quality of the pictures!). Both the cushions are exactly the same, and we couldn't work out how they look like they are different colours in this picture. Eventually we realised it was because of the lighting. To the right of the picture is a large window streaming natural daylight, and to the left he had switched on an electric lamp. It's the clearest example I've seen of the difference lighting can make  to pictures.

Hx