I ♥ Liberty and Bluejeans

With the last quilt (which I thought of as Sea and Sand but is now christened Hot Chocolate and Marshmallows, thanks to Moira) out of the way I've had a bit of time for another project.

I like the texture and colour of blue denim and finding different ways of recycling old jeans (earlier attempts here) and I love the contrast of tough and delicate fabrics, so I thought I would make a jeans and Liberty cushion cover using reverse applique to showcase favourite scraps.  This is part of the grand plan to try and learn something new with each make.

It took a disastrous first attempt, and a lot of night time pondering but I made this.  I'm so happy with it!

There are some picture-heavy details below if you would like to find out more.

Upcycling

I was cutting up some old jeans yesterday so I could add (a fancier) one of these to the WIP list

With Susan's post probably in the back of my mind, I thought that the pockets could be recycled into a little pouch.   By good fortune the fly zip was just the right size too.

After a false start ...

(sewing the zip on upside down...)

My youngest and I sewed this (I steered, she drove):

It has a central zipped compartment and - obviously - two outside pockets!  It came with its own embellishment, otherwise we would have decorated it ourselves.  Next time I'm recycling a pair of jeans I'll make another with a shoulder strap, and try covered zip ends.

(If you're looking for the Slow Bloggers linky party, please go here)

Hooray for Fat Bottom Girls!

I've finished my jeans cushion!  

I wanted to reflect its origins as much as possible so I kept the original seam for the envelope opening at the back - which I like because it reminds me of a comfortably fat bottom  (which more or less what it came from).

This cover was fiddly to make because the seams at the points were hard to sew through and I eventually broke my last machine needle and had to finish the piping and back by hand.  I made binding for the piping and thought I was being clever in joining the pieces on the diagonal as I'd read this reduced bulk - unfortunately I wasn't clever enough and I ironed the seams to one side instead of open. You can see the bulge.

 
I will remember this next time.  It's possible though that I might have made life easier for myself by binding round the edge as if it was a quilt.  Still nothing ventured, nothing gained!