Blog Giveaway Day 3 - Making Cushion Covers by Debbie Shore

Day 3 brings the last Debbie Shore book I have to give away.

Making Cushion Covers

Debbie Shore

ISBN 978-1-84448-730-1

Price £9.99

www.searchpress.com

Anyone who watched the TV series Men Behaving Badly in the 1990s will remember a joke that caused much hilarity at the time over one of the female character's propensity to collect cushions and secrete them all over the house. Well, if you buy this book, it may perpetuate that myth that you can not have too many cushions by giving the reader ample opportunity to find a cushion for any and every occasion.

Debbie Shore is the Queen of homely interior accessories and this book will not disappoint.  There are 26 designs to choose from and all take a slightly different approach which creates a book which has enough to keep you interested and wanting more from your home furnishings.

I like the way that all the books I have read by Debbie Shore require very basic equipment to begin.  This is particularly good for the beginner, who may not have had the years of collecting paraphernalia that some of us may have hoarded over the years.  This means that as long as you have some fabric, a simple sewing machine and some haberdashery such as pins and scissors, you are ready to go.

The books starts with basic cushions to familiarise the reader with the techniques you will need as a starting point.  These are well-explained, with measurements and photographs to illustrate each step.  You have a basic envelope, hand-finished, round and piped cushion to practice before they start to be jazzed up a bit and a bit of fun is injected into the proceedings.  Then you have knots, pleats, rosettes, ruffles, buttons and ribbons as examples of some of ways that this fun is achieved.  My personal favourite was the flower cushion which had felt flower decorations sewn onto the cushion cover and created an expensive looking end product.  There were great personal touches on some the designs, such as a ‘Love’ heart cushion and a pleated ribbon butterfly cushion, and with several variations shown alongside the finished cushion, you get a great sense of how to move on from these patterns and create your own.  They are all pretty designs here and you will find that with the easy-to-follow instructions, you will be able to master a variety of cushion-making skills in no time.  Then you will be left in the difficult situation of how to secrete them in all corners of the house without tripping over them.

My blog giveaway is running over the next few weeks.  Every day this week I will be posting a review of each of the books I am giving away.  Please leave a comment on my blog, comment on and Like my Catch a Crumpsey Facebook Page or email me at catchacrumpsey@gmail.com, stating which book you would like.

Tomorrows book will be Mend and Make Fabulous by Denise Wild.

After the competition has closed, I will randomly choose a winner for each book title from those people who specified that book.  I will announce the winners on my blog and Facebook pages!

Closing Date for Blog Giveaway: Sunday 18 May 2014

Winners will be announced the following week!

In order for entries to be processed, your e-mail address will be passed onto Search Press with your permission.  I have been assured that your details will not be used for anything other than adding you to their mailing list to advise you of forthcoming titles and any promotions and your mailing address used so that Search Press can send your their new catalogue.  Your details will not be passed onto third parties or used for any other purpose.  Please email me on the above email address if you have any queries about this.