Friday 27 June 2014

Any excuse

Now this is probably stating the more-than-obvious, but I love fabric.  I love colour, pattern, the way different materials feel, drape, sew  However, this sometimes creates a dilemma - namely when to buy and when to resist.  I don't have a huge stash, by quilters standards, so don't feel too conflicted adding to it but what about when you find a  fabric you love, that simply won't work for quilting?  In this case it was this:



This first picture doesn't quite get the colour, but I really loved this when I found it (and it was on sale).  It's a Finnish print on a huge scale, but it was 13% polyester ie made for furnishing.  Then I had a lightbulb moment - we had some conservatory furniture which had seen better days, which is a polite way of saying the cushion covers were only fit for burning.  So I did this:







 Mind you, that makes it sound easier than it was .  I needed to use the old ones as patterns to cut the new pieces but they were stuffed with foam chunks and when I opened them up everything was covered in a kind of foam dust, where bits had disintegrated.  It was pretty vile and I'm still finding bits of it in the garden now.

I used another print for two chairs. This was my first attempt at something like this and I made some silly mistakes along the way, like getting the first piece I cut the wrong way round and messing up the front corners a couple of times, but I'm so pleased with how it's all turned out. It looks so much better than before (I did take a picture of the old covers but it's too shameful to admit I hadn't done anything about them before this!!)


9 comments:

Unknown said...

Looks fabulous! Love the fabric; when can we come and try them?

Unknown said...

Oh wow these look fantastic!

Sammy Zee said...

I love that fabric to pieces! It's a shame it's no good for quilting because it would go very nicely in an urban themed quilt :) sorry to ask if you said and I missed it, but where did you get it? :)

Kaja said...

Any time you want.

Kaja said...

Thank you :-)

Kaja said...

It's great, isn't it. It came from Raystitch (www.raystitch.co.uk) - made by Vallila. I'm just glad it occurred to me to do this.

Sammy Zee said...

I'll definitely have a look, thanks

Ella and Nesta said...

They look brilliant! Should be published in a magazine! What fabric did you use for the armchairs? You say it's a different one.

Kaja said...

It was another Valllila fabric, bought from the same place I couldn't decide which one I liked best, so my compromise was to get both. I'm glad you like them