All Seasons Pillow

As a member of the Poppy Patch Posse I get the chance to review some beautiful sewing projects, and I couldn't wait to try this one! This kit contains the pattern All Seasons Pillow by Lynette Anderson Designs along with the wadding and all the fabrics required, which are from Lynette's latest fabric collection - Botanicals. Using a fine nibbed Micron Pigma pen and a lightbox, I traced the stitchery design onto the background fabric that was supplied in the kit. I've used a lightweight fusible interfacing on the back, which will prevent shadowing of threads and gives a bit of body to the fabric when the applique is stitched in place too...

...this kit included all the fabrics for the applique, and it was great fun playing around with them to decide which ones to use for which applique shape. I prefer to use the Apliquick method of hand applique, using Apliquick tools and Hugs n' Kisses brand of applique paper, although you can use whatever method of applique you like for this project. I've been using a fine 60wt Bottomline thread in a mid grey colour for the applique, the stitches practically melt into the background and are almost invisible. Once the applique and hand embroidery are completed, the centre piece is trimmed to size, and the fabric strips are stitched into place. All the instructions on how to do this are included in the pattern, however I changed things up a little bit and stitched these using the quilt as you go method. I layered a piece of calico, then the wadding supplied in the kit, and finally the cushion front, machining through all layers as each strip was added. This meant I didn't have to do any further quilting once the cushion front was constructed. Finally, using a longer stitch length than normal, I machine stitched about an eighth of an inch all around the outside edge to hold the layers together...

...I like adding a hand embroidered label to my "pretty" projects, and this one was no exception. I traced the main part of the label directly onto a pale background fabric (one of my many fabrics from my "Lynette" box) again using a lightpad and a fine nibbed Micron Pigma pen. Using Valdani stranded embroidery threads in the same colours that are used for the front of the cushion, I embroidered directly on the lines I'd drawn, then I filled in the centre of the label using flowers and a bee that are very typical of Lynette's designs, finally filling in the space with a few colonial knots...

...the kit also included a pretty blue floral piece of fabric for the back of the cushion cover. The original pattern has details of how to complete this cushion cover, and the inner pad is completely enclosed with top stitching around the edge to finish it. However I like adding a zipper so I can remove the cushion pad if I need to, so I made a seperate cushion back using the fabric provided for part of this, along with the fabric that I'd used earlier when embroidering the label...

...once the back of the cushion was completed, the front and the back were then pinned together, both with right sides facing outwards, and I've machine stitched a scant quarter inch around all 4 sides taking care when machine stitching over the 2 ends of the zipper tape. I used some 1.5" strips of the pretty floral backing fabric to make some binding, to cover the raw edges of the cushion, the same way you would bind a quilt. I added these using the single fold binding method, with mitred corners. The raw edge is folded under, so when the binding strip is folded to the back of the cushion, all the raw edges are neatly enclosed. I've hand stitched the binding in place, but you can machine stitch it if you prefer...

...and here's both the front and the back of the completed cushion cover. Filled with a nice plump feather pad, it will have pride of place in my lounge, where it can be displayed all year round. This really was such a pretty cushion to stitch, and the kit supplied by Poppy Patch really is lovely. These fabrics are from Lynette's Botanicals collection, but any of her fabrics would work well for this cushion...

...thanks to some glorious sunshine over the early part of the Easter weekend, I was able to take a few photographs outside in the garden before the rain arrived! If you'd like to make one of these cushion covers too, the patterns and kits are available on the Poppy Patch website, along with a super selection of Lynette's patterns and fabric collections.