Preparation and cutting
1
From the green tone-on-tone
print fabric, cut:- Two strips, 9^11 ⁄ 2 in across the width
of the fabric. Crosscut two rectangles,
91 ⁄ 2 x14^1 ⁄ 2 in (cushion front and lining)
and two squares, 9^1 ⁄ 2 in (cushion back) - Two strips, 2^1 ⁄ 2 in across the width
of the fabric (binding).
2
From the beige felt, cut:- One rectangle, 5 x 10in
(appliqué background).
3
From the batting, cut:- One rectangle, 9^1 ⁄ 2 x14^1 ⁄ 2 in.
4
Trace the centre of the cushion
design (not including the stitched
scallop edging) from the Pattern
Sheet onto the dull side of the freezer
paper with a pencil. Cut it out neatly
on the outer line.5
Trace all the appliqué shapes from
the Pattern Sheet onto the dull
side of the freezer paper, including
the numbers, leaving^1 ⁄ 2 in between
the shapes. Cut them out roughly
outside the lines.6
Lightly fuse the shiny side of the
freezer-paper appliqué shapes to
the right side of the felt colours for
each shape and cut them out neatly
on the lines. In this context, the ‘right
side’ of the felt is the side that faces
up on the design. It’s important to
only fuse the shapes lightly to the felt
so that the surface fi bres don’t get
pulled up when the paper is removed.Keep the paper from the underside
of toadstool 3 as you need to use
it again later.Embroidery and
appliqué7
Position the felt ovals on the correct
toadstool top shape as shown in the
photographs and whipstitch them in
place with matching machine-sewing
thread. These stitches should be close
to invisible.8
Referring to the Stitchery Guide
on page 54, embroider the
toadstool tops and bird wing prior
to appliquéing them to the beige felt
background/bird body. For the bird
wing, work seven nine-wrap cast-on
stitches around the outline of the
wing and turn the top two down over
the wing. Then work another two
loops in the centre of the wing.9
Using the size 13 chenille needle,
prick the traced freezer-paper
pattern for the whole design in several
places to mark the position of the
toadstool and bird appliqués. Position
the paper shape on the beige rectangle
and use the erasable pen to mark dots
on the felt through the holes.10
Align all the toadstool and
bird appliqué shapes with the
dots on the beige felt rectangle and
pin them in place. Whipstitch all the
shapes in place with small neat stitches
in matching machine-sewing thread.11
Referring to the Stitchery
Guide once again and the
notes in the following steps,
embroider the rest of the design.12
For the base of toadstool 1, form
the bullion loops by having the
wraps around the needle about one-
third longer than the length of each
stitch – Val’s have 10 wraps.13
Work the fl y stitches around the
base of toadstool 2 with the two
arms of the Y on the cream felt shape
and the very short holding stitch just
going onto the background felt.14
For the top of toadstool 3,
work the fl y stitches around
the edge with the arms of the Y on
the background felt and the holding
stitches on the chocolate brown felt- the three arms are about the same
length this time. For the underside
of toadstool 3, trace the gill markings
onto the freezer paper shape that you
kept aside earlier, then prick and
mark the dots onto the matching
felt shape with the pen.
15
The tail feathers of the bird are
six nine-wrap cast-on loops
worked around the edge of the shape.16
Prick the design again and
mark dots for the position
of the fl owers and leaves on the
background felt, or position them
by eye referring to the photograph.
Embroider them as described in the
Stitchery Guide. Val added a straightHomespun 53