Needlework Cushions

Needlework is a relaxing pastime that many people practice. However, many completed works finish up stored away and are rarely seen. Using them as a cushion cover, gives them a new lease of life, to be seen and admired.

For all of the examples here, the construction of the cover follows that of many throw cushions – see Making a Throw Cushion – with piped edges and zipped.

One particular difference is the need to attach the piping and the back cover exactly to the outer line of stitches – attention to detail is something JBerryUpholstery takes very seriously!

Another difference is that needlework can finish up out-of-square. One example shows how this can be solved before the cushions cover can be made.

This first example, used a Thomas the Tank Engine piece as a front cover. The piping and back cloth both used a green fabric, complementary to the tapestry.

The backing canvas was folded and stitched to avoid any fraying.

The pad was specially made – over sized to give a good fill to the cushion and rectangular to follow the shaping.

This example where two cat tapestries were turned into cushions with black piping, backing and zip – following the colour of the cats.

This tapestry of a vase was limp and very definitely not square.

To stiffen and tug the tapestry closer to square, a lining with interfacing attached was made up and basted to the back of the tapestry.

In this case an overlocker was used to trim and secure the canvas from fraying.

One final example. Again the piping was added very accurately to the edge of the stitch work, the backing canvas secured from fraying and the back fabric added along with the zip before the oversized pad was pushed in.

If you have a long neglected piece of needlework tucked away out of sight, you might like to contact JBerryUpholstery and have it turned into something you can admire.

JBerryUpholstery has many examples of furniture Recovering and Restoration and also Soft Furnishings to add to or complement the finished items. You can see pictures of these in the Galleries – Recovering Gallery, Restoration Gallery, Soft Furnishings Gallery and Transformations.

If you have some upholstery that is in need of a bit of TLC or you are interested in Soft Furnishings then please contact us.