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Portia Pig Cushion Pattern | Guest Designer Delphine Brooks

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Bright and bold, Portia Pig is a fun appliquéd cushion pattern by Delphine Brooks.

This month, I’ve invited Lewis and Irene fabric designer Delphine Brooks to create a project for us. Delphine is also well known for her distinctive, colourful appliqué designs and I’m sure you'll love her Portia Pig cushion as much as I do!

Delphine studied Fine Art but soon discovered that her real love was textiles. As she says, ‘I love creating designs that incorporate bold colours and patterns, using them to express the ways in which I see the world.’ Mainly known for her appliqué and art quilts, Delphine loves piecing and free-motion embroidery, and she’s keen to share her design ideas with a wider audience: ‘I want to make the textile arts accessible to people of all abilities, creating projects that will inspire others to embrace their own creativity.’ As part of this process, Delphine is a regular guest designer on Sewing Street TV, a role that she has enjoyed since the show began in February 2020. Explaining her role, Delphine says: ‘I design a variety of different projects from pieced quilts and appliqué wall hangings to smaller decorative projects, as well as demonstrating different sewing techniques such as embroidery and free-motion quilting. As well as being a regular face on the show, I also attend live events such as the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham each year, where I deliver talks and live demonstrations.’

Delphine is sharing one of her designs, Portia Pig, with us here. Portia Pig is lively and lovable, and she looks great in the bright colours and bold combinations that Delphine has chosen, but if that’s not your style, you’ll find that Portia Pig also looks good in softer pastels or even different fabrics in just one colour.

The finished cushion is 18in (46cm) square with a simple envelope back. The front is padded with wadding/batting for a luxurious finish, and if you enjoy quilting, you can add your own twist by quilting the background in the stitches of your choice, either by hand or machine. Of course, you can leave the background plain if you prefer, as Delphine did in her main version of the cushion.

Delphine has specified a 20in (51cm) square for the background of the cushion front, but if you are buying fabric specifically for this piece, you can get away with 19½in (50cm) as the cushion front is trimmed back after being appliquéd.

The instructions are in Delphine’s words.

Note: use a ¼in (5mm) seam allowance for the cushion

Finished size: 18 x 18in (46 x 46cm)

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You will need:

Equipment

• Sewing machine 
• Pattern templates 
• Pen for tracing the templates 
• Pins 
• Small scissors for trimming the appliqué pieces 
• Large fabric scissors for cutting out the cushion pieces 
• Iron and ironing board or ironing mat 
• Fusible web such as Bondaweb or Heat n’ Bond 
• Optional: quilter’s ruler, rotary cutter and cutting mat 

Materials

• Small amounts of the appliqué fabric of your choice: I used fabric from the 2024 Autumn/Winter Dreams collection by Lewis and Irene in yellow (D2), bright green (D5), bright blue (D9), purple (D11), bright pink (D15) and orange (D17) 
• 5 x 5in (13 x 13cm) square of black felt or fabric 
• 20 x 20in (51 x 51cm) square of fabric for the background of your cushion front: I used cream (D1) from the Dreams collection 
• 38 x 23in (96.5 x 58.5cm) of fabric for the cushion back 
• 21½ x 21½in (54.5 x 54.5cm) square of wadding/batting 
• Threads to match your fabrics – or variegated thread and black thread – plus some white thread for the eyes 
• Cushion pad: I like my covers to be very snug, so mine is 20in (51cm) square, but the finished cover is 18in (46cm) square 

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