An Unnecessary Doorstop!

For my birthday in April I got given a book called The Crafty Minx by Kelly Doust. 

Kelly is an Australian with a knack for making handmade treasures out of recycled bits and pieces which is just up my street! I found her blog yesterday if you're interested to take a look: http://thecraftyminx.com.au/

The book has lots of ideas and patterns for things to make and I took inspiration for my latest cushion cover from it. This doorstop was first on a list of things that I have queued up to make. It's made from bits of fabric I've picked up here and there: an old pair of jeans, some old curtains, upholstery material and some fabric I inherited with my sewing machine. It's filled with the contents of a bag of rice and some extra stuffing so it's pretty solid.

The only problem with making a doorstop is that my bedroom door stays open by itself so it's not a necessary accessory and we don't need it anywhere else in the house. However, while I was on holiday with my parents a couple of weeks ago, my mum mentioned that she was in need of a new one for the lounge so happily I was able to send mine to a good home.

So not such an unnecessary doorstep after all!

giant cushions are the best sort of cushion

Having got myself in a cushion-making mood following Geri's birthday, I decided to make a cover for a floor cushion I bought in Ikea a little while ago. The fabric is also all Ikea (I'm not a huge fan of the shop but I do have a weakness for the textiles department!) and because it is thick upholstery material I didn't get issues with it sliding all over the place as I have done before when using silk. So it was quick and easy to make (I think I got it all done in an afternoon), including making buttonholes and adding an appliquéd bird from one my offcuts.

This is now my favourite cushion for leaning against when I'm sitting on my bed skyping my boyfriend in London :-)

(recycled) birthday cushion!

It was one of my oldest and best friend's birthday at the weekend and so I really wanted to make her something special as a present. I've had several spare cushions kicking around recently so that seemed an good thing to make. And I also had a silk top that I'd bought from a charity shop years ago because I loved the fabric, but I'd never worn it. It made for a really luxurious cover though and as the top was lined I had the perfect backing material too!

I wanted to avoid having any seams in the fabric so it was a bit of a stretch to make the cover big enough. It was slightly on the small side but the bonus of that is a plumper cushion in the end! I also used the original zip from the top which was only half the length that I'd normally use but as the colour was a perfect match I hope that's not too noticeable.

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Happy Birthday Geri! I hope that you enjoy your cushion :-) x

Recycled Cushions

I'm not always very good at throwing things away even if it's something I never use but I love to recycle. Clothing and other bits of material are especially good for this.

This green cushion was made out of a t-shirt that I'd had a little while and really loved but the style wasn't very good so I just didn't wear it much. It was fun to make (although not as easy as I'd expected it to be) and only took a few hours. I'd anticipated using the original side seams but they weren't straight enough so I ended up cutting a square each from the front and back and then sewing them together. I did however use the t-shirt's bottom hem on the back opening which gave a neat edge that I didn't have to do myself!

I also made the purple cushion from some old felt I had and another old t-shirt, but I can't claim originality for the idea because I found it on a Google image search!