After babbling on about my montages and inspiration, I was hit with a mighty dose of inspiration. I love making union jack cushions and I've been using my daughters baby clothes to make them. It means I have gorgeous and precious memories dotted around the house. However, I wanted to make one that had a really vintage air to it, so today I got to work and the cushion you see is the end result. It's quite tiny so I photographed it with a tape measure to show how small it is. The reason it's teeny weeny is because I was dictated by the piece of fabric I wanted to use as the main background. Normally I patchwork different fabrics, but this time I wanted to use a piece of the fabric I used for the kitchen curtains. It has a nice faded look which I thought would make a good start on the aged look.
I chose velvet for the crosses, which I absolutely love, but oh my word, velvet is a total swine to work with! I usually end up swearing when I make the roses, but trying to get it reasonably straight for the crosses was Hard Work. The frayed fabric is Laura Ashley upholstery fabric that I bought years and years ago. It must be at least 12 years old. I deliberately leave the edges raw so I can fray it. Underneath the vertical centre section I have attached lace, as the fabric frays the lace will be revealed. (I always use lace in the centre of my cushions and had no intention of leaving it out this time).
I was going to make a heart to have at the heart of the cushion, but I am not very good at sewing hearts. Instead, I stuck to what I do best and made a rose. It had to be made slightly differently to the brooches, so it's completely soft, there is no wire in it at all. Even though this cushion is more of an objet d'art than a 'working cushion', I still didn't want it to have wire in it.
The pearls are stitched in such a random way because I wanted them to look exactly what they are: A broken necklace. When a necklace breaks and spills, it's beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time. I never got around to re stringing these pearls, so I decided I would use them on the cushion in the style of a broken necklace spilling its beads. There is something very antique looking about pearls and velvet together. The rose and pearls were hand sewn, but even though, it seemed so quick making this cushion with the sewing machine, I can't imagine how I found the time or energy to hand sew the earlier ones.
When looking at the lampshade the other day, I thought how hat like it looked. A very plain hat, though I used it to hold my strings of pearls. So of course, I've decorated it! Another wallop of inspiration and I had another use for my trusty velvet roses.
Before & After
Close up.
I must admit though, that I have put the strings of pearls back on. Well, it looks so pretty and I can't think where else to put them!