Cathedral Window Cushion Tutorial

Cathedral window patchwork cushion - this is a hand sewing project.

This cushion finishes at 18" square.
You need 25 x 8" squares for the background.. 1.25 metres should be enough.
1 metre of fabric for the ruffle and cushion back
A cushion pad.

Start by folding over a 1/4" on all sides and press.

Fold in half and press, then fold the opposite way and press.  We want crease lines here.

Fold each corner into the center and press. Aim for nice sharp points on each corner.

Next, flip the square over and fold each corner into the center again.

It should look like this now.

Keep going until you have a stack of 25.   If you wanted to make a smaller cushion, 16 squares will give you a 14" cushion.

Using your thread doubled, secure the points with some small stitches.

The square on the left is the front and the square and on the right is the back.

Now take 2 squares with right sides together and over sew together.  Use your thread doubled for extra strength.   Don't worry too much about your stitching here as this won't bee seen.

Sew all your squares together in this way.

Now its time to add the windows.

You will need a selection of 2" squares.

                                                            I've used colourful  batiks.

Pin, opposite sides and work a running stitch, neatly, very neatly if you are using a contrasting thread!

                                       Just keep going until you have filled all the boxes.

Now for the frill.  You need double the length of each side.  Cut 5" strips, join together, fold over and press.  Its just like making binding.  If you wanted a smaller ruffle, simply cut your strips narrower.
Sewing it on is similar to adding binding except a small pleat is added every inch or so.
I did a previous tutorial, which you can find here  Don.t forget to fold over your ends at the start and finish of adding your ruffle.  This will be hand stitched together at the end.

Pause with the needle in the down position ( if your machine has that function, otherwise do it manually),of the previous pleat, and make the next pleat.  Continue all the way around.  At the corners, make a pleat as close to the corner as you can, turn the corner and immediately make another pleat.

Before the backing is added, pin the ruffle at the corner neatly so as not to catch it when stitching down the backing.

For the backing cut two rectangles the width of the cushion and about 12" long.  Fold and hem the width of cushion edge on one side of each piece.  With right sides together, pin the top piece first and stitch, then add the second piece.  Turn right side out and add a cushion pad.

A quilt made using this method would not need wadding or backing.  Something I've yet to do...........

I hope you've enjoyed this tutorial, if you have any questions then please get in touch.

Rhianon.