Last month my Mum had a birthday, a good enough excuse for me to travel back to my hometown of Melbourne for a family weekend. It was great, I went alone and relaxed without the children. I listened to my siblings and their partners talk around the dinner table about their pets. So refreshing, no talk of small people at all!
I tucked a handmade present under my arm when I flew down south. I made my Mum a cushion - a patchwork of little scraps of kimono fabrics that I had been hoarding for years. I know she loves pale shades of pink and purple so it just seemed like the perfect project to cut into those lovely fabrics. I was so pleased at the way it turned out, and Mum loved it too.
Sewing with these fabrics was very much try it and see, there were lots of different fabric types and textures from a stiff kind of crepe to slippery silky ones. I wasn't sure how they would combine together but it worked out just fine. As you can see above the layout of the slightly rectangular pieces was four rows of six. I top stitched down both sides of the long seams to add a bit of interest and to give the patchwork some strength.
The reverse side was three larger pieces using some of the same fabrics. I sewed these together and then just trimmed them with my rotary cutter to match the finished size of the patchwork side. Again I top stitched along the seams.
I had also been waiting for an excuse to try out using pompom trim so when I saw this mauve trim in the store I knew it was the perfect finishing detail. I pinned it into the side seams and then machine basted all the way around to keep everything in place before doing the final seam. There was no way I was going to get a zipper closure into this cushion so I simply stuffed it with poly-fill and hand stitched the opening closed.
This corner was my favourite, a touch of gold on the flower and the dark blue leaves coming in from the edge. So pretty.
:: Happy Birthday Mum ::
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