I love this Butterfly Notre-Dame Cushion made by the very talented Suzanne Campion. It’s been made to complement the gorgeous quilt I posted about last week.
I asked Suzanne about this lovely cushion project:
I love the fussy cutting of the fabrics in this cushion. Can you tell us a little more about the technique?
“Fussy cutting involves focusing on a particular design element within a fabric and highlighting it. I chose to bring out the butterfly detail and in particular the Strawberry Thief panel border of the cushion was centred and cut the same for top and bottom. I also selected a section of the print so the birds mirrored on the left and right of the cushion.”
Did you design the cushion pattern?
“Yes. The beauty of this design is you could actually achieve this by using jelly roll of 2.5” strips to make the butterfly components, the border and the binding. I then used extra fabric for backing and background (Wiltshire Shadow Oyster). My attention to detail got the better of me with this project and I fussy cut the Strawberry Thief Blossom borders from the fat quarter you provided. The quilters rule of ‘measure twice cut once’ certainly applied as I had to ensure I cut the right section first. The top and bottom borders are cut across WOF, (width of fabric, selvedge to selvedge) and the left and right borders are cut on the grain, length of fabric. I always sketch on square paper to double check my maths! I would say this pattern is suitable for a confident beginner / intermediate sewer.”
“I simply machine quilted the cushion block with just the hand quilting detail in the centre of the body. It did take time working out how to construct the ‘under wing blocks’. The construction of the Cathedral Window blocks is deceptively simple for a ‘that must have taken you ages’ effect. The trick is to just assemble the sections in the correct order. The antennae sections are a bit fiddlier so I would recommend starting with the larger blocks of the butterfly if it is your first time at this technique to build up confidence. I love building up all the layers adding colour and texture, which is more achievable with the fine yet strong quality of Tana Lawn.”
How did you choose the fabrics and which is your favourite in this cushion?
“The butterfly in the Betsy Print was the starting inspirational point for this design. The purple outline of the butterfly within the print was something I wanted to bring out on the frames of the cathedral window. So I focused on using the darker fabrics from the collection to frame the softer delicate colours of the other prints.”
How long did it take you to make?
“It’s hard to specify the actual time as I was working on a lot of projects during lockdown last year and it depends if you count the trial blocks to create the design. I took my time deciding how to quilt it. I have used machine and hand quilting, I am really enjoying hand quilting at the moment, it is quicker than you think it will be. I think this would be a weekend make, its something to saviour and enjoy the process and achieves the ‘wow that must have taken you ages’ comment. The advantage of buying a pattern is someone has done all the calculations for you so you can just spend time sewing and not doing maths!”
Where will you put the finished cushion?
“I am going to make another and place them as feature cushions with the quilt on a bed.”
Suzanne has just launched her website www.suzannecampion.co.uk where you can find the pattern for this lovely cushion. Thank you for sharing your make with us – it’s gorgeous.
