Christmas Present Cushion | Easy Patchwork Project To Sew

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Christmas Present Cushion | Easy Patchwork Project To Sew

Designed by Kimberley Hind and easy to make, this festive cushion is created with some simple patchwork and the addition of a luxurious ruffle.

About the project

Bring a touch of handmade charm to your festive décor with this patchwork cushion cover. Featuring a stack of gifts, a ruffled frill round the edge and an easy envelope back, it’s perfect for using up your favourite Christmas fabrics and adding a cosy, crafted touch to your home.

Finished size: 14in (35.5cm) not including the ruffle. Note: use a ¼in (5mm) seam allowance.

Become a patchwork pro

The patchwork front of the cushion is created by first joining the pieces into three horizontal strips and then adding a border of background fabric to the top and bottom to square it up. Choose either a plain fabric for your background, as I did, or select a fabric with a small all-over pattern so the joins don’t show up too much. For added luxury, you can quilt the cushion front if desired.

Use up your stash

Before you go fabric shopping, see if you can use what you already have. The patchwork parcels use small pieces of fabric so you may be able to make use of leftovers from previous projects – not all the fabrics need to be Christmas-themed. The background fabric around the gifts is also made up of fairly small pieces, so again, you may already have enough fabric for this.

Make it your own!

  • Use a shiny or glittery fabric for the ribbon sections to add some festive sparkle!
  • Add an extra dimension by using textured fabric such as one with raised dots or even lightweight velvet for one of the gifts or the ribbon sections.
  • Use coloured thread for any quilting you decide to do or add embroidery to the gifts or the background.

Make something different

If you love this project, you could make several of the centre panels and join them into a table runner. Why not add a coloured border or two around the edge to make the whole thing bigger?

By the end of this project, you’ll have:

  1. Mastered some simple patchwork.
  2. Created something personal and creative for the home.
  3. Made a beautiful cushion from festive fabric scraps.

You may also like:

Need more crafting inspo?

For further ideas, check out the Half Yard™ Sewing Club Facebook page or Pinterest.

Cutting

Bow:

Two 2in (5cm) squares of your ribbon fabric (red)

One 4 x 2in (10 x 5cm) rectangle of your background fabric

Small gift:

Two 2 x 4in (5 x 10cm) rectangles of fabric A

One 1 x 4in (2.5 x 10cm) rectangle of ribbon fabric

Two 6 x 5½in (15.25 x 14cm) pieces of background fabric

Medium gift:

Two 7 x 2in (18 x 5cm) rectangles of fabric B

One 7 x 1in (18 x 2.5cm) strip of ribbon fabric

Two 4½ x 4in (11.5 x 10.5cm) rectangles of background fabric

Large gift:

Four 5 x 2½in (13 x 6.25cm) rectangles of fabric C

Two 1 x 2½in (2.5 x 6.25cm) rectangles of (red) ribbon fabric

One 10½ x 1in (26.5 x 2.5cm) strip of ribbon fabric

Two 3 x 5in (7.5 x 13cm) rectangles of background fabric

Finishing pieces

Two 44 (full width of fabric) x 4½in (112 x 11.5cm) strips of your ruffle fabric

Two 15 x 11½in (38 x 29cm) rectangles of your backing fabric

Two 15 x 1½in (38 x 4cm) strips of your background fabric

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You will need:

Equipment

  • Sewing machine with a standard needle 
  • Optional: ¼in (5mm) foot to help with accurate patchworking 
  • Erasable fabric marker pen 
  • Pins and/or fabric clips 
  • Optional: basting spay, such as 505, to adhere your wadding to the front panel, if using 

Materials

  • 32 x 10in (81 x 25.5cm) of background fabric: mine is plain cream 
  • 8 x 2in (20 x 5cm) of fabric for the small gift (A): mine has a holly design 
  • 14 x 2in (36 x 5cm) of fabric for the medium gift (B): mine is green 
  • 20 x 2½in (52 x 6.5cm) of fabric for the large gift (C): mine has a winter-village scene 
  • 10½ x 8in (26.5 x 20cm) of fabric for the ribbons: I used plain red 
  • 44 x 10in (112 x 25.5cm) of ruffle fabric: mine is red and green 
  • 32 x 12in (81 x 30.5cm) of fabric for the cushion back: I used more of the holly fabric 
  • Optional: 17in (43cm) square of wadding: I used 80/20 wadding for the cushion in the video because it is soft and easy to quilt 
  • 14in (35.5cm) square cushion pad 

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Project steps:

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Step 1

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Step 2

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