Weekend Mini Make: Lion Cushion

I'm back with another Weekend Mini-Make: a quick craft you can complete over the weekend for less than a tenner. And even better than that, all my mini-makes are designed to be something beginners can try their hand at, whilst also being a relaxing, well-being boost. As I've mentioned before, I regularly turn to DIY and crafting when times get hard, so for me, having a creative outlet has become a vital part of my everyday life. I hope that these simple, cheap crafting ideas will inspire others to have a go, and see if it can make big changes in their life too.

This week I've tried my hand at something I haven't had a go at before - making a cushion! I'm currently in the midst of a big girls room revamp for little lady (I made a rainbow wall hanging a couple of weeks ago), so I've now turned my hand to something to sit on her new toddler bed - a lion cushion. 

This one was actually a lot easier than I feared it would be - I had a picture in my head of what I wanted this to look like, and once I'd worked out how to to put it all together it actually only took a couple of hours to make! 

You will need:

A round cushion insert - Mine is 12 inches diameter and cost £3.22 from eBay

Fabric - I ordered half a metre of a terracotta coloured linen fabric, again from eBay costing £4.49

Mustard coloured wool - I already had half a ball left from my last Mini-Make

Embroidery thread

Cotton

Sewing machine or needle & thread if you want to hand sew

Total spend: £7.71

First up, cut two circles out of the fabric - slightly bigger than the size of your round cushion padding. Cut one of your circles in half, and this will form the back of the cushion, with the gap to insert the padding.

At this stage I also drew my lion face on with pencil, as it'll be easier to do this now before the padding is inside.

Turn your front piece of fabric over and lay face down so the face you've just drawn is on the other side. Around the edge of the fabric, lay out your wool in loops to form the 'mane'. Take your time with this, and make sure there are no obvious gaps as you want it to look full. Remember that after sewing we'll be turning the cushion inside out, so anything hanging over the edge of the circle will be inside the cushion. This took me a little while to get my head around,so hope this makes sense, but you basically want to make sure the majority of the wool is on the right side.

Once you're finished placing the wool, pop the backing piece of fabric (which will be cut in half) directly on the top of the wool and pin around the edge to hold everything in place. Now its time to sew! I used a sewing machine for this bit, however you could absolutely use a needle and thread and hand sew too. Make sure you keep close to the edge of the circle, and sew over both pieces of fabric and wool to fix it all together, removing the pins as you go.

Tip: If sewing isn't your thing there are other ways of making no-sew cushions such as using fabric glue, or hemming tape and an iron. I've not personally had a go at these before, but there's loads of tutorials available if you have a search. 

Once you've sewn all the way round, turn the cushion inside out and the 'mane' should be fixed in between the two sides of the cushion.

Now to sew the face on! I hand stitched this using thick embroidery thread - choosing a dark brown colour. Take your time and slowly stitch over the pencil marks you made earlier using a normal running stitch. Make sure each part is finished off with the thread inside the cushion, and tie off with a tight knot.

Nearly there! Now you're ready to pop the filling inside the cushion. You could stick a piece of velcro either side to fix together the two halves, or add a button and loop of embroidery thread, however I've simply left it as it is.

And you're all done! Its as simple as that!

Hope you enjoyed this quick and simple DIY - let me know if you make one, I'd love to see! And I'll be back next week with another quick craft perfect for completing over the weekend.

Thanks for reading,
Sam Xx