Easy Fleece Bunting Cushions

These easy fleece bunting cushions are the first of hopefully several tutorials, challenges, competitions and giveaways to mark The Year of Bunting.

If you hadn’t realised that 2019 was The Year of Bunting, don’t worry, lots of other people won’t have either!

This is mainly because it’s only me who’s decided that it’s a thing!

You can find out a little bit more about why I have declared 2019 to be The Year of Bunting in this post here.

After the Christmas decorations have come down, the house can feel a bit empty.

One way to compensate for this is to make some changes, and a nice, simple thing to do is to make some new cushion covers.

I love jazzing things up with some new cushions and I do this at other times of the year as well, not just after Christmas!

Unless you want to, there’s no need to even buy new cushion pads. You can just whip the old covers off and pop the new ones on. Or even put the new covers over the existing covers if you’re feeling lazy!

A tired cushion pad can be brought back to life by being thrown into the washing machine. Alternatively you can pull the stuffing apart with your hands for a few minutes.

If you want extra cushions and therefore don’t have any spare pads, you can make square cushion pads from old synthetic pillows. There’s a tutorial showing how to do this here.

These cushions, like most of the cushions I make, have envelope backs. The reasons for this is because it’s easier and because I don’t like to have a zip poking into me when I’m sitting on the sofa.

I made them from fleece because I found I had quite a lot left over from another project while I was having a rummage. For the bunting I used the remains of a fat quarter I used for something but I can’t remember what! The string of the bunting is bias binding. This has the advantage that it stretches a bit, so it’s easy to sew it into a curve.

While making these bunting cushions, I didn’t measure a thing! I used the cushion pad as a guide for the cover. For the bunting, I experimented with paper triangles of different sizes until I found a size that I liked.

So grab a cushion pad, some paper and a pencil and your sewing stuff and let’s get sewing!

How To Sew a Bunting Cushion

You Will Need

A cushion pad
Fabric for the cushion cover (I used half a metre of fleece, but you can use whatever you have. It needs to be enough to go right round the cushion pad, plus a bit extra, and enough at the sides for the seams).
Scraps of fabric for the bunting
Bias binding or ribbon for the string of the bunting
Pencil and paper
Ruler (anything with a straight edge will do)

Cutting Out

For the cushion cover, you can use the pad as a guide.

Cut a piece of fabric big enough to wrap around the cushion, plus a bit extra so that the ends overlap by about 10 cm (4 inches). Make sure you allow enough for the side seams.

To cut out the bunting, it’s easiest if you make a paper template first. Take a piece of paper and fold it in half. Draw a straight line from the folded edge to a point along the top. Cut along the line, open it out and you’ll have a perfect triangle! If it’s not the right size, just try again until you get one you like.

Using the template as a guide, cut some triangles from scraps of fabric. I used 4 triangles on one cushion and 8 on the other, but it will depend on the size of you triangles, the size of your cushion and how much bunting you want on your cushion!

If the fabric you are using looks like it might fray, you might like to iron some fusible interfacing to the wrong side of the fabric before cutting out.

And if you want a tip for cutting triangles out quickly, you might like to have a look at this post here.

Sewing the Cushion

As I used fleece fabric for my bunting cushions, I didn’t bother hemming them as they won’t fray. If you are using different fabric or if you prefer a neater look, you’ll need to hem the two short edges first.

Fold the cushion cover piece in half widthways and gently crease it with your finger or mark with a pin.

Arrange your bunting on the right side of the cushion fabric. If you’re planning on having more than one row of bunting on your cushion, just pin the bottom row.

Applique the flags to the cushion cover. I didn’t bother with the top edges, just the sides.

Pin the bias binding or ribbon along the top of the flags. Sew it in place.

If your cushions are having more than one row of bunting, add the extra rows in the same way, one row at a time.

Once you’ve finished the bunting, you’re ready to turn it into a cushion cover!

Fold the top edge over, then the bottom edge. The wrong side should be on the outside, and the short edges should overlap in the middle. Using the cushion pad as a guide, check that it is more or less square.

Pin the side seams and sew.

Trim the seams and turn the cushion the correct way out. Pop your cushion pad inside its new cover!