Dawn from the studio has made this gorgeous Sweetheart Suffolk Puff Cushion. I always have loads of Liberty scraps and this is a fabulous way to use them up. It’s a great project to keep us occupied during those times when we need to stay at home too. Dawn gave a few hints and tips to consider when making this lovely cushion.
I love this technique – where did you learn how to make these?
“I learnt how to make Suffolk Puffs with my friend and brilliant quilter, Sadie Yeomans, when I first started learning to quilt quite a few years ago! This is a very old technique dating back as far as 1601. It is thought they originated in the county of Suffolk when people would recycle worn out clothes and fabric scraps into the ‘puffs’ and very often sewed them together to make quilts.”
How did you make the cushion?
“Small circles of fabric are gathered together with a running stitch around the outside edge to create the ‘puff’. They are also known as ‘yo-yo’s’. In the spirit of ‘make do and mend’, and having lots of little leftover scraps of lovely Liberty fabrics from making other valentine projects, I was inspired to try and use them up. I thought a small cushion was slightly more achievable than a big quilt!”
“I marked out a grid using tacking stitches on a plain linen background and, having made all the puffs, I stitched them on using the grid to help the heart shaped placement. Once they were all attached, I could remove all the tacking stitches and voila – a heart shape! My all time Valentine favourite Kitty Grace fabric provided the backing of course!
Thank you Dawn for sharing another of your gorgeous Valentine cushions with me – there are a few more Dawn projects to share with you over the coming weeks. She’s been very busy in the UK lockdown!
