Scrappy Sea Glass Cushion
This beginner-friendly Sea Glass Cushion Cover Tutorial will show you a fun way to use some of beautiful fabric scraps as well as give you instructions for a simple envelope cushion back that you can use again and again on future projects.
This is a great make-in-an-evening project and can be given as a unique and personalized gift, or make one for yourself to quickly update your home decor!
This cushion cover is made up of a quilted raw edge applique front and an envelope back. The finished size is 15” x 15”.
Fabric Requirements & Other Materials
- Fabrics
- Cushion Front Fabric – cut (1) 16” x 16”
- lining fabric – cut (1) 16” x 16”
- cushion back fabric – cut (2) 9.5” x 16”
- sea glass scraps in your chosen colors – cut (9) 2.5”- 3” squares which will be trimmed down to irregular oval and circle shapes
- your choice of double-sided fusible – cut (9) squares the same size or slightly smaller than your sea glass scraps.
- cotton batting: 16” x 16”
- cotton fabric binding for envelope back (optional): cut (2) 2 ½ x 16”
- cushion insert: 15” x 15″
Step 1: Preparing your Sea Glass Scraps
To begin follow the instructions on your chosen iron-on fusible product to apply fusible to the back of the 9 beige fabric scraps.
Once cooled trim them into irregular shapes – think of flat pebbles on the beach or pieces of sea glass for inspiration. There is no right or wrong here!
Step 2: Applying your Sea Glass Scraps
Pin lining batting and cushion front together to keep things from shifting as you sew.
We want to position our sea glass shapes in 3 rows of 3 on top of the denim (or whatever material you are using for the front of your cushion!) leaving 2” from the edge of the cushion cover and approx. 2” between each sea glass shape in either direction. Fuse in place following the directions on your fusible product.
If you need a further visual about placing the shapes do check out the video tutorial below where I use my fingers to measure where the sea glass shapes go!
Starting with the center sea glass shape stitch roughly around the shape 3 times using a quilting stitch length.
You are aiming to stitch down the edge of the shape but also to go wide of the shape in places to give the quilting a ‘sketch’ or ‘doodle’ sort of effect. This style of quilting the shapes down makes this fool proof for beginners – you can’t get it wrong!
Step 3: Free Form Stitching
To actually stitch your sea glass shapes in place and at the same time quilt together the 3 layers of your cushion front we will be using a really low stress method of stitching around the shapes 3 to 4 times.
If you know how to free motion quilt you can use that skill here to make quick outlines around your shapes to fix your sea glass shapes in place. If not, you can stitch around your sea glass shapes without dropping your feed dogs by slowing your speed and rotating your cushion cover as you stitch.
I stitched my shapes with my feed dogs engaged (the way you normally sew and piece). The first time round I try to get the edges of the shape stitched down, the second and third time around I am not as worried about stitching the edge perfectly unless I missed a bit the first time round.
I purposely went off of the shape and onto the cushion cover a number of times as it gives a lovely ‘sketched’ look that I like.
So you do not need to stress about stitching exactly on the edge every time – low stress and a fun look at the same time!
Repeat for all 9 shapes doing the middle shapes first and working out to the corners.
Step 4: Prepare your Cushion Back Pieces
Finish one long edge of each of your cushion back pieces by either folding the fabric over by ½” and hemming it OR use 16” strips of leftover 2.5” binding to bind the long edge of your cushion back.
To do this stitch the folded quilt binding raw edge to raw edge on the wrong side of the cusion back fabric then flip over and top stitch in place.
Step 5: Adding the Envelope Cushion Back
Place your two cushion back pieces right sides to right sides with your cushion front.
The two back pieces should overlap with the finished edge to the middle of the cushion. Pin in place.
Sew all the way around the edge of your cushion using a ¼ seam allowance.
Optionally you can clip the corners and zig zag or serger stitch the raw edges to finish.
Turn your cushion cover right side out and fill with a 15” cushion insert.
Sea Glass Cushion Video Tutorial
Finished Sea Glass Cushions
Here are the finished photos of two Sea Glass Cushions I’ve made using this method.
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