Thursday 26 March 2009

Vintage cushion covers become placemats



Originally uploaded by Craft Matters
I've finally got round to creating something just for us to use. I found some fabby cushion covers in one of my regular trawls round Oxfam just after Christmas and fell on them straight away. I have a particular fondness for bright orange, bold & bright prints. They have such a 70s feel - they really remind me of my childhood, especially our great caravan holidays - the 'van had a fab orange interior. These were right up my street, but absolutely rotten as cushion covers - with atrocious white frondy trim - yuk.


Originally uploaded by Craft Matters
I've been wondering what to do with them for some time now, and suddenly had an inspiration that they would make great placemats - and as I had 3 cushion covers, I had just enough fabric to make 6 mats - a full set! I also wanted to try a little bit of quilting, so this seemed like an ideal opportunity to have a go and to further emphasise the graphic print with a bit of extra stitching.

So I chopped up the covers (disposing of the unpleasant fringing I'm afraid), found some suitable backing fabric and sandwiched a layer of fusible fleece between the 2 layers, sewed round then started up with some quilting. Even more exciting than that - I used the embroidery foot on my machine to do it. So lots of new skills there.

I am delighted by the result! Unfortunately I've only done 1, but hopefully next week, after the bunnies are done, and the Tea Swap gift is posted off, I'll have a chance to finish the other five.

3 comments:

Izabela said...

this are fantastic colors! great find!

Caroline said...

Very nice! I really fancy having a go at quiltiny but I haven't a clue how to get started or even if I have the right foot on the machine...

Chloe said...

They are a very good find!
I never stumble upon anything good at our charity shops and we have absolutely hundreds of them in our tiny town!
Looking forward to seeing what you do next with your new found quilting skills!