Spring has officially started and the sun is shining again here so I thought I would show you something floral I finished this week. This cushion cover was a gift for a special friend here in France who has done so much to help us settle in. Her birthday is the first day of Spring so I wanted to make something in keeping with the season. Her time in Paris is coming to an end (don't want to think about that just yet - it's the ex-pat curse you make friends quickly but soon lose them as they are posted elsewhere) so I also wanted to give her a reminder of where our friendship started.
A late night search through the Purl Bee sewing projects for some ideas came up with this Mini Liberty Applique Quilt. By the time I woke up the next morning, inspiration had struck and this project morphed into a cushion cover with Eiffel Tower applique!
Liberty fabrics are everywhere in France; Liberty bias bracelets in the open air markets, babygros with Liberty collars, Liberty duvet covers, the list goes on*. All the nicer fabric shops carry some Liberty lawn so a little bit of Liberty of London paradoxically makes any project quintessentially French! I bought mine from the gorgeous little boutique Mon Plus Beau Rève in Versailles and the grey fabric for the cushion cover came from Eurodif, a kind of French Jo-Anns. Not so gorgeous, but full of affordable fabric with potential.
This was my first time woking with Liberty lawn and now I'm hooked. I can't remember the last time I did any applique but the tight weave of the lawn holds it's shape so well it was a joy to stitch. I chose this print and embroidered running stitches around the edge to give the impression of the Eiffel Tower sparkling at night which it does for five minutes on the hour all through the night. It never gets old and we both love it!
The pillow back has a deep overlap so I decided not to include a fastening, but couldn't resist adding a bit of detail. Never let a Liberty scrap go to waste!
Whipped up a quick gift tag with care instructions on the reverse and it was ready to give away. A little reminder of Paris in the Spring!*I may or may not own all of the above items!
This is just stunning, Nicky and I'm so lucky to have seen it in person and shared the day with you. Thanks for inspiring me to start stitching again. I'm tempted to get some Liberty today!
ReplyDeleteJust lovely! Paris and Liberty together, match made in heaven. Love the little deer detail on the back too, so cute. Your friend's a lucky girl!
ReplyDeleteI like the owl jar looking over your project :)
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