Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Design Challenge Tutorial: Mod Angles Cushion

Hi! I'm Debbie from A Quilter's Table, and I was really pleased when Chrissy asked me to join the Sew Lux Design Challenge Series! This month's fat-quarter bundle consists of several prints from Kate Spain's Serenade, one from Basic Grey's Hello Luscious (the green print), and a really lovely cross weave by Moda.


The tutorial I have to share with you is for a 12" x 18" cushion, inspired by my mini quilt, Spiraled. It uses some pretty special half-square triangles, and is quilted with organic straight-line quilting. I love the look of the binding finish, which also just happens to be one of my favorite steps in the quilting process. So let's get started on our Mod Angles Cushion!

Supplies Needed:

  • 6 fat quarters of coordinating fabric
  • 1 zipper, 16" -18”
  • 1 piece of batting, approximately 14" x 20”
  • Coordinating thread
  • 12” x 18” cushion insert

Cutting Instructions:

  • 1 - 12 1/2” x 18 1/2” rectangle for main backing fabric
  • 1 - 4” x 18 1/2” rectangle for accent backing fabric


  • Cut 4 - 2 1/4” x 21” pieces for binding, trimming at a 45-degree angle at each end. (not shown)
  • 6 - 3 1/2” squares from background fabric
  • 9 - 4” squares from background fabric
  • 9 - 4” squares from your prints
  • 18 - 3” squares from your prints for block contrasting strips



Block Construction and Cushion Front:
(Inspired by Double Flip HSTs Tutorial by don’t call me betsy.)

  • Draw diagonal line on back of 4” background squares and 3” contrasting squares. 


  • Layer 4” background squares on top of 4” print squares, right sides together. Sew 1/4” on either side of diagonal line. Cut on line to make 2 half-square triangles (HSTs). Press seams open.


  • On each HST, line up a 3” contrasting square on top of print corner. This time, sew ON the diagonal line of each 3” square. Trim off corner, leaving 1/4” seam allowance, and discard trimmed corner or save for another use. Press seam open.



  • Lining up diagonal line of ruler, trim HST to 3 1/2” square. Repeat to make 18 HSTs.




  • Arrange HSTs per photo, or as you wish for another cushion cover front design. Piece blocks together to create cushion cover.


  • Lay cushion cover, wrong-side down, on top of batting. Baste, either with pins or spray baste. Quilt as desired. Trim to 12 1/2” x 18 1/2”.



Cushion Back and Zipper Installation:
(Lapped Zipper technique from Erin Harris of house on hill road.)

  • Place two backing pieces right sides together along one long edge. Mark a stitching line 1 1/2” in from the long edge. Center zipper down along line and mark where actual zipper begins and ends.
  • Pin fabric together, and beginning at one end of marked line, stitch with regular stitch length until you come to the first zipper mark. Back-stitch a few stitches to secure and stitch back to first zipper line. Now change stitch length to a basting stitch and sew until you reach the second zipper mark. Change your stitch length back to a regular stitch, back-stitch a few stitches, and then stitch to end of fabric. Press the seam open.


  • Fold and press fabric pieces as shown below. Mark line 1/4” away from seam towards the short edge.

  • Fold the short edge back along the line towards right side of fabric and press.


  • Line up fold along zipper teeth as pictured, centering zipper and pinning into place. Using a zipper foot, stitch along length of fold, about 1/8” from zipper teeth.



  • Flip entire piece over, so right side of main fabric is up and zipper is wrong-side up, as shown.
  • Still using zipper foot, stitch second side of zipper down.


  • Draw a line 3/4” from sewn seam, towards the main fabric piece. Stitch along this line to create lapped edge. With seam ripper, remove basting stitches to expose zipper.


Final construction:

  • Make binding by sewing ends of binding strips together. Press seams open. Fold and press length of binding in half, wrong-sides together.
  • Layer quilted cushion front on top of finished back, wrong sides together. If the back is slightly larger than the front, trim it to match. Machine stitch binding around outside edge on front, raw edges matching.


  • Turn folded edge of binding to back, and hand-stitch along stitching line, to secure. Your cushion cover is now complete!


  • Insert cushion form and admire your good work!


I really enjoyed making this cushion for you, and I hope you enjoy making it too! Please share yours in my flickr group, Quilting with A Quilter's Table. I'd love to see it! And if you have any questions, feel free to email me. Thanks again!

3 comments:

Thanks for stopping by - we love hearing from you! :-)