Make it yourself… cushions!

Last week was the first sewing workshop in our Sew Sundays programme. Everyone got to grips with their machine, our 2 new Janome boys were taken for their first spin and we even conquered buttonholes! In fact, you simply wouldn't believe how professional all the cushions looked! Now, we wouldn't normally give away our workshop secrets, but as it is Mother's day soon, we thought these cushions would be the perfect handmade present for mummies everywhere! Here's how to... 

You will need:  
A cushion pad, some fabric, matching cotton, pins, scissors, tape measure, pen or dressmakers chalk and 3 buttons. We used a super cute Cath Kidston dog print fabric for the front and a candy red stripe for the reverse.

Step 1

Measure the cushion pad- we used 18 inch pads (46cm square). Draw out a square on your fabric using dressmakers chalk or a pen, which is 5cm greater all the way around than the cushion pad  (51cm x 51cm in our case). Cut this out. This will become the front of our cushion.

Step 2:

The back of our cushion is made from two separate pieces. They should both measure the same vertically as the front piece (51cm) but the width should be half this (25.5cm) plus 9 extra centimetres. In our case each back piece totalled 34.5cm across and 51cm down. Cut these out.

Step 3:

Put the front piece to one side. On each back piece fold in 1.5cm along the longer, vertical edge and iron this down. Now fold in another 4cm and iron down again. Stitch down along the inner vertical edge of the fold using a standard running stitch on your machine.

Step 4:

Now for the buttonholes! Arrange the buttons on one of the back pieces along the fold. We used three big buttons. Mark their positions lightly with a dot at the top and bottom of each button. 


According to your machine’s instructions for making buttonholes, work the holes between the dots you have marked (extending the buttonhole slightly beyond each). Now cut the centre out of your stitched buttonhole using some sharp scissors and iron it down again. 


Lay the back piece of fabric with the newly made holes to the right, over the top of the other back piece with the folds also to the right. Mark a dot through the centre of each hole onto the piece below. This is where you will stitch on your buttons. For now pin it together with the piece with the holes overlapped on the top.

Step 5:

To sew up our cushion, retrieve your front piece and lay it on the table with the right side facing up. Place the fastened back pieces over the top with the right side facing down i.e. the two right sides are facing each other. Pin all the way around and trim any mismatched edges. Machine 1.5cm from the edge all the way around.

Step 6:


Turn your cushion cover out

Sew on the buttons and insert your cushion pad! 

Voilà! The perfect handmade present for Mother's Day!

Why not check out our upcoming sewing classes and take your skills to the next level! 

Happy creating folks! 

Meet the tutor!

We thought it was about time that we brought you a peek behind the scenes into our very special Revival tutors.

Introducing …. Becky! Becky is one of two cake tutors that teach for RC. She runs Baked By Becky and her specialist area is cupcakes.

We thought we’d drag her away from her baking for a cuppa and a few personal questions! 

RC: So Becky, why baking?

B: I have always enjoyed baking and have several great memories of baking days with my Mum where we would make all kinds of biscuits, cakes and tray-bakes. Having given up work 2 years ago after having my second child, I caught the baking bug again and proceeded to bake cupcakes for various friends, family and my husband to take into work for his colleagues. 

RC: When did you set up Baked By Becky?

B: Nearly a year ago after baking cupcakes for my daughter’s Christening, Baked By Becky was born! I started off with the odd order and before I knew it the business had gone from strength to strength. 

RC: What’s your best seller?

B: For pure indulgence the Rocky Road is a chocoholic’s dream but the most popular flavour by far is the simple but gorgeous vanilla cupcake.

RC: What’s your most novel request?

B: I am known mostly for my novelty decorations and for tailoring each cupcake to the recipient. These ones I made for a hen-do, the bride-to-be was marrying a farmer!

RC: What do you love most about running Baked By Becky?

B: Whatever the order, the thing that spurs me on is seeing the look on someone’s face when they receive their box of cupcakes, each one made from scratch, by hand, especially for them!

You can contact Becky and order some of her favourite rocky road cupcakes or join her to learn how to create Spring Cupcakes on March 30 in Warwick or Vintage Cupcakes on April 21 in Stratford.

Yummy! 

Meet our new additions!

As this is a (relatively) New Year and new start for many of us, we were thinking that some of you might like to give sewing a try for the very first time? However, we understand that you may just want to see if you like it before committing a whole New Year’s resolution to learning to sew or buying your first machine!

We know that for some of you it's quite different, and you have owned sewing machines (either because you have been given them by family or because you purchased them yourself with great intentions some time ago) which are now gathering dust in the loft or cupboard under the stairs.

With this in mind, we have constructed 3 perfect sewing workshops whichever category you fall into. Each week will gradually increase in difficulty, but we'll start by helping you to build a friendship with your machine. 

(No, we haven't gone mad! Honestly, sewing machines have individual personalities!) These are the workshops: 

• Sunday 4 March – Sew a simple cushion
• Sunday 11 March - Sew kids clothing : mini-dungarees and pinafore dresses
• Sunday 25 March – Sew alterations : zips, nipped waists and tricks for regenerating your wardrobe

So, without further delay, let us introduce our new co-workers for all of you who are new to sewing…

We have hand-picked these beauties as the perfect machines for beginners. They have no whizzy gadgets and definitely no digital display settings, just easy-peasy sewing! And, to make you feel even more positive towards them, we are even going to name them and suggestions are welcome! 

You're not seeing double- we do have two! They are available for reservations now (dinner dates optional!) Simply let us know that you would like to borrow one of our lovely chaps in the ‘additional information’ box when you pay for your class online. We’re sorry but reservation requests will be handled on a first-come-first-served basis!

Go on! Book one out for a spin today! 

See you at a workshop soon x

 

Fancy snipping a bit off the price of one of our sewing workshops?

Simply sign up to follow our blog and add a comment to this post with your name suggestions for our boys. Don't forget to include your email address! 

We will then drop you an email with a special discount code for 10% off one of the sewing workshops!

Welcome to 2012!

It's 2012! Can you believe it? Happy New Year to you all! 

We've decided to launch the New Year with a shiny new blog! Do you like it? We are very excited about it!  

This blog is our New Year's resolution and our way of giving something back to you lovely creative people! So here goes with this year's promises…

• Every week we promise:

·     To bring you the latest news from HQ. This might be some juicy behind the scenes gossip about us, our tutors or maybe a little teaser for something we are working on!

• Once a month we promise:

·      To let our hair down with a little make or bake fun for you to try at home, with top tips and lots of creative inspiration!

• Every now and again we promise:

·        To offer you something tempting!  Because who doesn't love a special deal or competition? 

So, if you have decided to make your 2012 resolution a creative one, then follow our little blog and together with your comments and ideas too, let us help each other to make 2012 the craftiest year yet! 

Let's get cracking! x