Ladybird Cushion

BY ELLEN KHARADE

Any child would be delighted to receive this cute creature as a birthday gift, but it also makes a fun and quirky decoration for a party.

Time: 3 hours

Difficulty: Get stuck in

You Will Need

Red and brown patterned fabrics

Black fabric

Black felt and black yarn

Fusible interfacing

Red and brown ric rac

Toy filling

Red stranded cotton (floss)

1. Use the templates to make paper patterns for the ladybird’s wings, small body, main body, head, and body spots (two large spots and two small).

2. Use the paper patterns to cut two wings (one reversed) from the red patterned fabric, one small body from the brown patterned fabric, one head and one main body (back) from the black fabric.

3. To make the body front, pin the wings to the small body and machine stitch, then pin and machine stitch the head in place.

4. Iron interfacing onto the back of the black felt. Pin the spot patterns to the felt, cut out, then fix onto the wings by ironing. Machine stitch around the edge of the spots then decorate the with blanket stitch worked with red embroidery thread.

5. Pin and machine stitch ric rac across the head and body. Pin the body front to the main body (back) with right sides facing. Machine stitch around the edges leaving a 13cm (5in) gap for turning. Turn the ladybird through the right way, press and stuff with toy filling until nicely rounded. Sew up the gap with ladder stitches.

6. Make two pompoms from black yarn and attach to the head.

Full-size templates for this project are available at: www.stitchcraftcreate.co.uk/patterns