Celebrate the new season with this charming cushion featuring a spritely bird, appliqué and embroidery
Designed and made by JO AVERY
APPLIQUÉ PROJECT
You will need
■ Neutral fabric (background and backing) – 1¼yds
■ Pale yellow fabric for bird body and flower centre – 8in x 11in
■ Charcoal fabric for bird tail and face – 10in x 6in
■ Grey fabric for bird head and upper body – 4½in x 9in
■ A variety of aqua fabrics for inner of tulips – in total 7in square
■ A variety of pink fabrics for outer of tulips – in total 10in square
■ Pale green fabric for flower petals – 5in x 7in
■ A variety of dark blue fabrics for leaves and flower centre – in total 7in square
■ Binding – Two (2) 2½in x WOF fabric strips
■ One (1) 18in cushion pad
■ Fine matching thread for appliqué such as Aurifil 80wt
■ Embroidery threads in white, brown, black, grey, dark pink, teal, yellow, aqua
■ Water soluble pen or similar
■ Templates A-L
Finished size
■ 18in square
Notes
■ Templates A-D are for the bird appliqué. To make a mirror image bird, place the templates WS up on the fabrics. This will reverse the shapes.
■ Jo used Essex Linen Yarn Dyed in Flax for her background and backing fabrics.
■ Jo used Aurifil 12wt wool thread
for the embroidery.
■ Always test marking pens on your fabric before beginning.
■ If you can’t see the pattern lines easily through your fabric when transferring the pattern, try taping to a window, your computer screen with the light turned up, or go over the pattern lines with a thicker pen. Jo says the pattern is just a guide and does not need to be too accurate.
■ Why not make a quick and easy light box to help with your tracing. Take a small shallow cardboard box with no lid and pop your phone inside it with the torch function switched on. Place a large square patchwork ruler on the box and trace your pattern on top of this!
Cutting out 1 From the neutral fabric, cut the following:
■ One (1) 19in square for the appliqué background.
■ Two (2) 12½in x 19in rectangles for the envelope back.
2 From the pale yellow fabric, cut the following:
■ Two (2) bird bodies using template A, one (1) reversed.
■ One (1) large flower centre using template J.
3 From the charcoal fabric, cut the following:
■ Two (2) bird faces using template B, one (1) reversed.
■ Two (2) bird tails using template C, one (1) reversed.
4 From the grey fabric, cut two (2) bird heads/upper bod
