a little patchwork

I get asked a lot about the patchwork pieces I have in the store and how to go about making them.

As you can see from my ottoman, when it comes to my sewing skills, we are talking only the basic basics. 

Nothing more complicated than some straight seam sewing. About my limit!

In fact, a true patchworker would probably have fifty fits at my mismatched seams and unmatched piecing. But in this case, this bit is intentional.

Though it may look haphazard, I can truthfully say there is absolutely nothing random about the way it all goes together.

I love a mixture of texture - in fact I think this is essential, so use a mix of velvets, silks, printed and embroidered cottons, whatever is in your fabric stash, but make sure you mix it up.

Limit your colour palette - a mismatch needs to somehow feel balanced and harmonious, and if you don't reign in your colour palette, it may just end up looking a little crazy and OTT.

Then I play around with the fabric pieces, moving them here and there like some kind of jigsaw puzzle for some time before committing them to the sewing machine.

Sew your pieces into long strips, and then join the strips together.

In my case, I'm always aiming to create a piece of fabric that my upholsterer can then treat as if it is a regular length of upholstery fabric. My skills are in putting the patchwork piece together, but then I hand the whole piece over to my upholsterer to complete the project.

Why am I telling you all this? Well I know that many of you who fought bravely for the fabric remnants at our store sale today are going to attempt a project along these lines. And all of those silks and velvets are pretty pretty perfect for a little random patchwork fun.

(And if you need more, the sale has two more days to run!)

 

While you're at it, how about a little wallpaper randomness too?

(Yes, there are still plenty of these samples and offcuts in the sale too.)

Happy patching!

Amanda xx

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