I saw this cushion made up at my local fabric shop the Jolly Stitcher – I loved the combination of colours and I thought this fabric panel would be good fun to sew. I decided that it would make a lovely addition to my spring decorations.
The instructions were very clear – and easy to follow and pretty soon I was looking for ways to personalise it.
I thought the pattern of flowers over the bird could do with a bit of embroidery – it would give me a little practice to hone my skills and try out new stitches.
I decided to quilt and embroider at the same time, as I wished to outline some of the pretty leaves as well as embellish the flowers. It was a fairly easy task accomplished in a few evenings while watching TV.
I used a combination of weaving stitches, chain stitches and buttonhole stitch – trying to match the beautiful colour combinations as much a possible. I think the colours used was what excited me most about this project.
I thought the little fabric yoyo/ Suffolk puff came out beautifully when made, however, I wasn’t to sure about covering up the pretty eye design on the fabric.
In the end I opted to embroider the eye rather than cover it up with the yoyo/ Suffolk puff.
It looked so pretty with the lovely colours and a nicer detail. I also struggled a little with the bird wings – they also covered up the pretty flower design but they looked so nice when they were sewn on.
Matching up each side of the cushion was tricky on the sewing machine – and the beak ended up virtually impossible to match without some white showing – so I ended up hand sewing the beak.
this is the un-embroidered side and it looks lovely as it is – maybe I didn’t need to do all that embroidery after all – but then I always like to add a little bit of my own design into everything I do.
This was a lovely panel, easy to do and nicely put together – there is a smaller bird to go with this one – that I will make at a later date.
You were totally right to add in the embroidery, what a great idea – it turned out really lovely!
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You are so kind, thank you Agnes, so lovely to hear from you.
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I love the embroidery, and I think we should always embrace the will to give things a personalized touch. Really nice job!
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Thanks Sewing Goddess I agree wholeheartedly! … I think embroidery hones your sewing skills as well – especially if you plan to introduce a more couture element to sewing.
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I always think these kind of printed projects are designed to be embellished with your own personal touches. I kind of like the two sides acting as a ‘before’ and ‘after’, too. Beautiful!
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