Australian Homespun — June 2017

(Jacob Rumans) #1
edges of the arc – and glue baste
it in place. Repeat this step for the
other three corners.

15


Appliqué the edges of all the
shapes in place by hand with
the fi ne thread. (Helen says that you
can machine sew them if you prefer.
She demonstrates her technique
online at http://www.youtube.com/user/
helenshugsnkisses.)

Embroidery


16


Place the cushion fronts over
the designs on the Pattern
Sheet with the broken lines matching
the centre fold lines. Use the ceramic
pencil to trace the embroidery
designs onto the cushion fronts,
one quarter at a time.

17


Fuse a square of lightweight
batting to the wrong side of
each cushion front squares. Put the
traced area of one cushion front in
the embroidery hoop and ensure
the fabric is taut.

18


Using two strands of Oregano
(809) thread, backstitch all of
the Cushion 1 design. For Cushion 2,
backstitch the stems and fl ower
outlines, work the petals and leaves
in satin stitch and chain stitch around
the fl ower centres. Fill the nodding
buds with a spiral of chain stitch.

19


When the embroidery is
complete, put the cushion
fronts face down on a clean, thick
towel and press them gently from
the wrong side to avoid fl attening
the stitches.

20


Trim the cushion fronts to
measure about 18^11 ⁄ 2 in square
with the designs centred. It’s more
important to trim the edges in
relation to your appliqué than it is
to end up with perfect 18^1 ⁄ 2 in squares.
For Cushion 1, the trimmed outer
edges of the cushion front should be
even with the outer edges of the B
squares. For Cushion 2, you need to
trim^1 ⁄ 4 in outside the outer edge of the
pentagons at each end of the arcs,
as shown in Diagram 3 – the cushion
fronts might end up a little less than
181 ⁄ 2 in if the fabric has ‘shrunk’
slightly during stitching.

Assembly


21


Match two cushion back
rectangles, right sides
together, and pin on a long edge.
Using a^1 ⁄ 2 in seam allowance, sew
for 1in, change to the longest stitch
length on your machine and
machine baste to 1in from the end,
then switch back to normal stitch
length and sew the last section.

Embroidery detail – Cushion 2


HELEN’S NEEDLE
TIPS Choose your needle size
to suit the size and type of thread
you’re using. You need a fine appliqué
needle for English paper piecing
and needleturn appliqué, but get
one with a large eye, such as a Hugs
’n Kisses appliqué needle, so you
don’t struggle to thread it. For
embroidery, select a large crewel
needle to suit your chosen thread.

¼in

Diagram 3

Free download pdf