I am delighted to showcase these stunning Liberty Cathedral Classic Cushions. These beautiful Cathedral window cushions have been made by Suzanne Campion, one of the lovely Alice Caroline customers. Suzanne is a firm supporter of the Quilt SOS project and so far, has made many quilts for us to take to new worthy homes. She stepped in at the last minute last year to make lots of extra quilts so that each child would receive one in Vilnius, Lithuania – thank you so much Suzanne!
Suzanne told me a little about herself and her sewing journey. “My Gran taught me to sew when I stayed with her in the summer holidays in Somerset. She made all her dresses and soft furnishings. I still have the needle case that she made me with EPP hexagons. I progressed from tapestry, embroidery and cross stitch to dressmaking at school. My love of colour and construction led me to take a degree in textile design. I specialised in weaving and in my final year I discovered the world of passementerie (meaning she’s an expert in decorative trimming such as tassels, braid and fringing). I had a successful career working with high-end interior designers making bespoke trimmings and tassels (if you’re ever in Chatsworth House, you can see my work in the Mary Queen of Scot’s Rooms!) until 2004 when I created the first of my two best designs….my daughters! I have now rekindled my love of sewing, making clothing, bags, soft furnishings and have become a quilt making addict!”
This cushion is so beautiful. It took my breath away when I opened up the parcel. Its always such a joy to receive such parcels.
Suzanne says “I was inspired by William Morris and the Arts and Crafts Movement and their belief that good design should be available to all. I remember my first trip to London as a textile student and visiting Liberty. I felt at home and soaked up all the colour and design inspiration. Liberty Tana Lawn is worth every penny as the fineness of the base cloth allows for such detail and saturation of print and colour.”
She also says of my new Alice Caroline exclusive collection “I often get inspired from a single fabric design and enjoy building up a story of colours to enrich the colour scheme. Turquoise and purples are my all time favourites. I was thrilled when Alice launched her second exclusives collection. I was immediately drawn to the gorgeous purples and the aqua and mint greens that were singing out on her exclusive Strawberry Thief colour way. The blues and purples are drawn out perfectly on the purple Betsy print and the greens and blue on the Wiltshire. All the designs blend with a colour leading on from Capel to Mitsi. I adore the subtle gold glimmer on the pink Betsy and finally the delicacy of Irma’s Garden. The collection works so well as a rainbow of colour enhanced by the balance of print scales.”
Cathedral Window Cushion – she says “I love – and maybe am slightly addicted to – the machine pieced cathedral window technique. It allows the build up of colour and layers and patterns within patterns. I knew that the Strawberry Thief needed to be the centre of attention within the window frames. I blended out from the centre using the purple and green prints. The green linked wonderfully to the Betsy pink and from there the colours blended from pink to orange to yellow. I used white Liberty tana lawn to frame the windows and let the fabrics sing in all their glory. The cushion was bordered with white and then piped with the Wiltshire print to bring the blue and green to the outer edge and balance / anchor the colour and design. It was machine quilted using Aurifil natural white in 40w. The final embellishment was fabric covered buttons fussy cut from flowers from the Strawberry Thief fabric.”
I love Suzanne’s fussy cutting on this project. The buttons and windows are perfectly matched on the whole cushion.
The back of the cushion is simple yet just as pretty using the fabrics in a really lovely way.
Suzanne said about her Envelope Front Cushion “The Irma’s Garden print was quilted with a classic diagonal pattern and allowed to shine in all its glory and piped with the Pink Junes Meadow. The Envelope flap highlighted the wondrous Betsy in Pink and was bound on the lower edge with the Mint Capel. The centre panel of the flap has a band of cathedral window the same scale as the other cushion. Here I used the mint capel as the window frame and the yellow Mitsi as the background to complement the gold glimmer of the Betsy. Fabric covered buttons were fussy cut from the Pink Junes meadow. For the final flourish I custom-made tassels – the jewellery of the home – to balance the pink and green and draw the eye down, with an added touch of gold stitching.”
Again, beautifully fussy cut buttons. Gorgeous detail.
The custom made tassels made using Suzanne’s expertise. Stunning!
Thank you so much Suzanne for making these gorgeous Liberty Cathedral Classic Cushions. There was much oo..ing and ah..ing in the studio over these. If you would like to see these stunning cushions, they will be on display on our stand at The Festival of Quilts before I reluctantly return them to Suzanne…
Suzanne’s Cathedral Window quilt she has made for the Quilt SOS project will be on display at the Festival of Quilts too. If you are visiting, make sure you take a look. It’s wonderful!
Alice x
