Part 2: Design your cushion top
with JULIUS ARTHUR
Lesson 24 of 27
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Learn how to design your cushion top that suits your personal style and how to translate the shapes that you have drawn onto a template to make your appliqué.
From the Lesson Workbook
Part 2 - Design Your Cushion Top
My cushion top has been inspired by rock-like forms and objects I have around the house. When looking for inspiration for your cushion design, think about the objects around you and what you have a personal connection with and is available in your home.
When you are developing ideas for your cushion, you could try collaging with the fabrics you are considering to get an idea of how those designs would look and feel.
Translate the shapes that you have drawn onto a template to make your appliqué.
Materials:
- Freezer paper
- Scissors
- Pencil/pen
- On the matte side of the freezer paper, draw the shapes you wish to cut out, then cut them out with scissors.
- Select fabric scraps to use for your appliqué. They need to be at least 1 cm (⅜ in) bigger than the templates all the way around.
Cutting Your Shapes
- Press the fabric you are going to use for your shapes.
- Lay one template shiny side up (waxed side down), on the wrong side of one of the fabric scraps. You want to be economical with your fabric, so place the template as close to the selvage as possible.
- Turn off the steam setting on your iron before pressing the template onto the fabric until it adheres.
- With the edges tucked under, press the shape using steam to hold it in place.
- With fabric scissors, trim the edges of the scrap leaving at least a 1 cm (¾ in) border all around the edge of the template.
- After pressing all the edges under, flip your fabric over and give it a final press.
- Carefully remove the paper template and turn the shape over. The turned-edge appliqué shape is now ready for sewing.
- Repeat for all your shapes.
- Press the fabric border around the template's edge.
Tip: if you are struggling with creating curves, you can gently clip notches into the curves. This will help allow your fabric to lie flat around the curve.
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Your Instructor
Julius Arthur
British textile artist specialising in handmade quilts and unique textile objects for the home.
Julius Arthur is a textiles designer specialising in quilts and unique objects for the home. His design practice, House of Quinn, creates small-batch homeware using traditional and age-old craft techniques and practices to cultivate contemporary design narratives onto familiar objects. His work is grounded in uncomplicated - often repurposed - materials and inspired by an abstract view of the places and things around us. Growing up in Cornwall, memories of childhood and a sense of home and belonging intersect in Julius' work. Quilts have become a staple motif in Julius' work - a way of combining materials, connecting through stitch and exploring shape, form and line - and the subject of his book Modern Quilting.
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