Colourful Canvas Cushion Covers

I've got something slightly different to my usual completed projects to share with you today. To celebrate the opening of Mood Fabrics NYC's brand new showroom for home decoration fabrics the Mood Sewing Network bloggers were invited to do an extra home related sewing project for the network. I jumped at the chance to try out something new. I spotted a peak of the new store on the Mood Fabrics Instagram earlier in the week and I so wish I could visit in person!

I've been wanting to brighten up our lounge for a while now and what better way to do this than with colourful scatter cushions in a variety of prints? To be honest while browsing Mood's range of home dec appropriate fabrics online I did get a little carried away and briefly consider a larger project such as curtains or a roman blind. I was also getting seriously sucked into dreaming about what could be done with some of the gorgeous laser cut velvets. However, this 'sewing for the home newbie' needed to keep things simple at first!

First up I wanted something bright and contemporary to liven up my front room so I went for this Village Green/Natural Zig Zag Canvas. It's a lovely thickness for a home dec canvas which I can see being useful for many different projects. I think the zig zag is a really good size for these cushions which are 35cm x 35cm. Despite being such a bold print they almost appear fairly neutral as a whole compared to the other two!

My favourite of the three now they are made up is definitely the Graceful Garden Floral Cotton Print; the colours are so vivid and really bring some life to the set. I also love the scale of the print and the way the flowers just seem to flourish across the cushion. As with the zig zag versions I just made simple envelope cushions with an overlap of about a third at the back.

I did get a little more creative with the last cushion. This lovely Italian Black and White Floral Canvas jumped out at me straight away. I thought the monochrome print would work really well with the other colourful canvases I had picked but it was screaming to me to be paired with a splash of colour in the cushion itself. I took a quick look through Mood's trim selection and decided a bit of fun piping would be a good way to go. I absolutely love how the Pink Leather Trim I chose looks with the scale and style of this print.  I also chose to do my stitching along overlapping edges on the back of the cushion in matching hot pink to carry that colour choice through. This canvas has a slightly different hand to the other two; it's a lighter weight and feels finer and smoother to the touch which I really like. It was lovely to work with.

It was really easy to add the trim to the cushion. I just sandwiched it between the layers before assembling the cushion, pinning it carefully in place with all the raw edges lined up. I sewed it up as usual using my zip foot. I didn't use any kind of special needle to handle the piping as the leather is pretty fine and soft. My machine handled it fine. I made sure to clip in from the raw edge right up to the cording at each corner point to help it curve round smoothly.

After realising how speedy and enjoyable cushion covers are to make and the difference they've made to the room I can't believe I have not delved in sewing for my home before. The heavier weight and stiffness of these fabrics were such a nice change to all the delicate silks that I've found myself working with recently for dressmaking. I've now got all sorts of ideas and think my next project may be a beanbag or footstool!