Sew very London...

About a year ago, in a shop somewhere along the Northcote Road in Clapham, I saw a lovely embroidered cushion. It was white and had embroidered onto it the buildings of the London skyline, but it cost £100.
This January I decided it was about time I updated our inherited sofas a bit, and made them more personal. I thought back to the cushion I saw and thought...'I could do that!'.

hand embroidered London cushion

This is the first embroidery project I've ever embarked on, but it wasn't quite as difficult as I thought it might be at first. I've learnt embroidery is really just a collection of stitches, so if you can use a needle and thread, you can embroider.

All you need to make a cushion like this is an embroidery needle (slightly bigger than a normal needle), some embroidery thread/floss, some material and an embroidery hoop. I used an unknown linen from the sale in my local fabric shop. It's best to use a material like linen where you can see the threads, so it's easier to see where to put the needle. Embroidery thread is made up of six strands, I used one for the outline of the buildings and 2 or 3 threads to colour in areas.

So I began by deciding what I wanted to include in my design. I picked the buildings London is most famous for, and I had to include Battersea power station as it's just across the road from my flat.

I sketched out each building and went over it in black pen when I was happy with it. Then I arranged them on a template the same size as my cushion, in order from the west to the east of the city. To get the design on the material was quite difficult but I made do by pinning the template to it, holding it up to a window and tracing over it. If was to do it again though I think a heat transfer pencil would be a good investment!

 Next, I started to stitch. My design is just made up of lines, so I used a simple backstitch, in plain black thread.

When the main design was complete, I added some shading on the gherkin, and for the windows on the Houses of Parliament and St. Pauls. To add some colour, I decided to include some smaller things that London is most famous for, in bright red thread. An underground sign, a telephone box and a London bus. Lastly, I added a lovely dark blue ribbon for the river Thames.

I then rather hurriedly and somewhat excitedly, made my design into the front of an envelope type cushion cover (which I will post about at a later date...).

This first trip into the world of embroidery has gone much smoother than I could have expected, and left me with lots of ideas and most importantly, a lovely cushion without having to spend £100!