Upcycled cushion

When you start out in a new home you tend to accept every piece of charity that you can. Somehow the word has negative connotations now but I still see it as kindness from those who want to help and don't accept the shame that the word is often spat out with.

When my husband and I first moved in together we were very blessed to have so much given to us. Very little was what we wanted for our home but it didn't matter because we had a home, each other and a house full of stuff. Much of which still adorns our house. Now as much as I would love a new sofa, the one we have is still serviceable, it was given to me by my brother over 3 years ago and he had it in at least four different homes before it found its resting place with me. I'm confident we will have a house of things we've picked for ourselves before we reach sixty but I don't mind accepting charity for now because it means that the money we do have can be put to better use. It also means one thing: upcylcing! 

This is a cushion is one of a pair that my dad gave me four years ago. 

It's enormous for a cushion as you can see by my foot being next to it. My dad's living room and sofa was green when he had it, my brother's sofa (now mine) is gold so thankfully they matched. But, my living room is now purple, with dark wood. It doesn't match. It's also at least 8 years old so the stuffing has gone lumpy and it has definitely lost its shape so I decided to cut it up. 

I took off the cushion covers, I tend to give them to charity, it would be hypocritical not to, and cut the inner cushion down by 15cm on each side making the stuffing more like stuffing again.

I made an envelope cushion cover with some fabric I had lying around - I wish I wrote down where I got it from, it is really nice. Then I cut hearts out of a contrasting fabric, still purple.

This is the end product:

Before you say anything the hearts are supposed to be on the left side. I used the photography rule of threes and am mega pleased with it.

I wanted a waterfall type look which meant lots of hearts. I wish I had been less ambitious. The hearts took the longest. Despite the cushion easily still passing for a floor cushion the fiddley parts always take the longest.

They were pinned in place and sewn on. I used white thread for two reasons, it makes the hearts stand out and I'm too lazy to go upstairs to fetch a different colour thread after spending ages making the cushion. 

For the record, hearts are not the easiest thing to sew around and when you look closely at my stitches they could probably be better. But I'm the fatty crafter not a perfect crafter.

And besides, it looks awesome in my living room. Something that matches, yay!