Quilted Heart Cushion Tutorial

Right on cue for Valentine's Day, I have a quilted cushion to show you. This was great fun to make and brightened up my sewing room no end. With the radio on and this bright fabric by my side I almost managed to ignore the storms that brought lashing rain and wind howling round the house last night.

I've used the same heart block that I showed you in my last Block Buster Sunday  post and have given it an envelope style back complete with a little border made from the offcuts of the heart blocks.

Just incase you want to make one too, I've written a tutorial for it:

To make one cushion you will need:

Scraps of 6 different printed fabrics for the heart blocks

1/8th yard background fabric for the heart blocks. (I used Kona Snow)

4 1/2" x Width of fabric (WOF) for the grey sashing (I used Kona Ash)

5" x WOF for the red border

19" square of wadding

19" square of backing for the wadding (optional)

3/4 yard fabric for the cushion back.

Follow the instructions here to make four 6" scrappy heart blocks, but when you come to the trimming of the corner pieces, instead of trimming after sewing from corner to corner, sew another line 1/2" further out than the first first. 

Cut between the two lines of sewing. Repeat for the other side of the block. Store these little off-cut pieces safely. They are 8 tiny half square triangle blocks and we are going to use them on the back of the cushion. Yay!  a good way to use up those scraps!

 Cut three 1 1/2" wide WOF strips from the light grey fabric.
Use these to sash the blocks, first horizontally

Then vertically

Cut two 2 1/2" wide x WOF strips of the outer border fabric and create a border all round the cushion front.

I make a proper quilt sandwich at this stage, placing a 19" square of lining fabric down first, then the wadding and then the cushion front on top and baste with pins in the normal way.

I think the lining fabric protects the wadding and makes it easier to take the cover off and on again when you want to wash it, but its fine to just use the cushion front and wadding if you prefer.

Quilt the top in the normal way. I quilted diagonal lines 1"apart.

Trim the cushion front to 19" square.

Take the little off cut half square triangle units and trim the to 2 1/2"square. 

Join together in one long strip and add a 2 1/2"square of border fabric to either end.

Cut 3 rectangles from your background fabric:

1.  25" x 19"

2.  19" x 14"

3.  19" 9 1/2"

Centre and pin the offcuts border to the long edge of the 19" x 9 1/2" rectangle.

Attach and press open.

Join the 19" x 14" rectangle to the opposite edge.

Fold in half and press.

Top stitch on either side of the border.

Place the right side of the piece you have just completed against the right side of the cushion front, so that the raw edge is level with the top edge of the cushion front with the back border towards the middle.

Take the final rectangle of backing fabric and fold in half and press so that it measures 19" x 12 1/2".

Place on top of the other section so that the raw edges of the back piece are level with the base of the quilted front (folded edge towards the centre).

Pin all layers in place.

Sew around all four edges with a 1/2" seam allowance. Trim the corners.

Turn the cushion cover the right way out through the envelope opening.

Fill with a cushion, snuggle up and enjoy !!

It is Valentine's Day after all :-)