For a beautiful little girl

 A very good friend of mine, Kate had a gorgeous little girl called Zoey just under a year ago. Zoey is so cute I wanted to make her a lovely 1st birthday present. I decided to make her a cushion cover to go in her room. I don't think she will care much when she gets it (she is turning one so the wrapping paper will be exciting enough), but hopeful as she gets older shell think it cool.

This is what it looks like

elephants on the back

Her name on the front

and this is how to make it

you will need: to make one cushion 45cm x 45cm

At least two contrasting fabrics (I used 3 because i really liked the elephants). I got half a meter of the pink and the elephants and quarter of a meter of the grey, that would be enough to make 2 cushions but it depends on how wide your fabric is.

Double sided iron on interfacing.

A zip to match you fabrics.

Chalk.

Scissors.

Sewing machine.

Iron

I used 3 because i really like the elephants

 

 First cut two rectangles 47 x 50, 3 cm longer than they are wide so that when the zip is in, the cushion will be square.

I sewed around the pieces with the over-locker as the fabric frayed quite a bit. This made it easier to work with.









Next draw out the letters using a chalk pencil. you can print some off using word if you don't fancy free hand.

with the double sided iron on interfacing pinned to the under side cut out the letters. I find it much easier to iron on the letters if you do not remove the pins. Just rip the interfacing backing paper, it make it a lot less fiddly






Iron the letters into place insuring you keep the zip in mind when finding the middle of your cushion. then using a zig zag stitch in go around the letters.

After all the fiddly bits it is time to put in the zip. I don't much like putting zips in but I find that taping the zip in place is quicker and easier than trying to hold it in place with pins









Sew a seem around the three remaining edges
.

Trim close to the seem on the corners so that you get a nice neat finish when you turn it through. Sponge of the chalk and it is finished!





Thanks for reading. x