Christmas at Cowslip: Patchwork and quilting projects for the festive season

By Jo Colwill

Christmas at Cowslip is a compilation of the best festive sewing projects from Jo Colwill's two books Cushions and Quilts and Patchwork Quilts and Gifts.

This collection of festive projects is the perfect resource for all your seasonal sewing. Whether you are making gifts for friends and family or sewing decorations for your own home, Christmas at Cowslip will get you in the holiday mood. Choose from patchwork and applique projects for cushions, pillows and small and large quilts. There is even an advent calendar so the little (and not so little) people in your life can count down the days until Christmas day.

The projects are a combination of different techniques including simple patchwork, more advanced piecing, various applique techniques, hand and machine quilting and some additional hand embroidery. Some of the projects, such as the Scandinavian Horses pillow cover, are suitable for beginners, while others, like the Christmas Countdown and the Scandinavian Journey quilt, are suitable for more advanced sewers. Jo’s patchwork style is very distinctive because she uses lots of applique, both fusible web applique and hand needle-turn applique.

Instructions for both techniques are included so you can choose the style you prefer. Jo uses lots of recycled fabrics for the smaller applique designs and you can have lots of fun choosing scraps of your favourite fabrics to incorporate into the designs. There are step-by-step instructions and artworks for all the projects and the templates are included at full size as digital downloads so you can print them out and get started immediately.

• Language: English
• Publisher: David & Charles
• Release date: Jul 12, 2022
• ISBN: 9781446381731

Jo Colwill

Jo Colwill runs her shop and workshop space – Cowslip Worshops – from her organic farm in Launceston, Cornwall. She has been quilting and teaching for over 20 years and has built up a huge reputation within the quilting community.

Book preview

Introduction

Over the past months (with the dreaded news in the world!), sewing has become a great comfort to very many people. Escaping into a safe sewing sanctuary and creating your own unique projects has become even more important. I love using recycled fabric to make special presents that will last forever, especially at Christmas, and if you’re new to quilting it’s a great opportunity to see just what you can create.

Projects: The projects are a mix of techniques, including simple patchwork, more advanced piecing, various appliqué techniques, hand and machine quilting, and some hand embroidery. Some projects are suitable for confident beginners while others are more suited to quilters with wider experience. Do read all of the project instructions before you start a project, to familiarize yourself with what is required. The projects use a ¼in (6mm) seam allowance, unless otherwise stated.

Tips: Additional advice and guidance is given in the form of tips throughout the book.

Measurements: Imperial and metric measurements have been given throughout the book, with metric in brackets (parenthesis). The projects were made using Imperial measurements, so the best results will be obtained using this system. The more adventurous projects, such as Scandinavian Journey and Vintage Bouquet, do need accurate piecing for the best results. I aim to achieve a high quality result in my quilting but I am mostly driven by the need to be creative and let the fabrics tell the story. Measurements are important, especially for advanced piecing, but I try not to let them get in the way of creating a piece of work that is enjoyable to make and pleasing to look at.

Fabrics: Fabric types and quantities are given in the You will need list at the start of each project. I have described the fabrics I used but the designs will suit a wide range of fabrics, so feel free to seek out your own choices. Fabric quantities are based on a 42in (107cm) width of fabric, unless otherwise stated. Colour is very personal and can be so uplifting – I often bury myself in my fabric stash and then find that half the day has gone by. You may want to change my colour choices and that’s fine. The projects are meant to be used, to be adapted and, hopefully, will inspire you to make more.

Diagrams: Drawings have been supplied to illustrate the stepped text where necessary. These are not to scale but are intended just to support the text.

Templates: Most of the projects use templates for the appliqué and quilting motifs and these have been provided at the back of the book, mostly at full size. Printable versions of the templates are also available to download from www.davidandcharles.com. You can photocopy the templates for your own use if you wish to enlarge or reduce them.

Techniques: General techniques common to many of the projects are given in a separate section, with diagrams and photographs where needed. It is a good idea to read through this section before you start any project.

Appliqué methods: Most of the projects use appliqué in one form or another because I love it. Two methods have been used for the projects – fusible web appliqué and hand needle-turn appliqué – and both methods are described in detail in the General Techniques section. You can change a project to use the method of your choice, just remember that needle-turn appliqué requires a small seam allowance around each motif, usually ⅛in–¼in (3mm–6mm). Fusible web appliqué does not need a seam allowance but the edges are usually oversewn in some way, either with free machine stitching or hand blanket stitch.

Patchwork, appliqué and quilting are such rewarding crafts, and are perfect for meeting up with friends and sharing ideas and skills. Without the support and help from my family and workmates I would never be able to achieve anything and am so grateful for their encouragement and support. I also have my four-legged friends, who are my inspiration. I hope you have fun making and adapting these projects for the loved ones in your life.

MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT

Since I first started patchwork, the techniques and materials available have grown and developed immensely. The fabrics and threads that are now on the market are amazing and exciting and we are so lucky to have excellent fabric shops and wonderful selections of fabric. I feel it is important, and fulfilling, to put your own stamp or love into a quilt, so do think about using an old dress or a child’s outgrown clothing, as long as the material is still strong and colourfast. I only ever use cotton fabric, with the very rare exception of a label on a piece of clothing that is particularly special.

Wadding (batting) is the layer between the quilt top and the backing. It can be 2oz bonded polyester cotton (not too thick), or wool, which needs to be bonded or needle punched. The bonding or needle punching means that when you are quilting, the fibres do not pull through on the needle and ‘beard’ on the quilt front. For dark quilts, dark-coloured wadding is available. Whichever wadding you choose, make sure it is not too thick, as this makes it harder to get small hand quilting stitches or to handle through the machine. Traditionally, the layers of a quilt were tacked (basted) together about every 6in (15cm) or so, but I use a temporary adhesive – see General Techniques: Spray Basting for my technique.

Basic tool kit: Each project has a list of fabrics and supplies you will need to make the project but the following is a list of useful general items.

Quilter’s ruler

Rotary cutter and mat

Tape measure

Iron

Sewing machine

Scissors

Reindeer in the Snow

I don’t get to Norway very often to see my sister and my niece, as it’s hard to leave the farm and all my animals, but when I do go I always take sewing with me and have been known to sit on a beach there quilting a Christmas quilt! I find Scandinavia such an inspiring part of the world, where crafts and tradition are still much respected. It fills me with so many lovely ideas – two of which you can see in this chapter. That is where I first saw the pepparkaka or gingerbread house, and also reindeer, which run right past my sister’s door.

You will need

Snow-themed fabric for background 21in x 25in (53.3cm x 63.5cm)

Two fat quarters of different ‘snow’ fabrics, for hills and snow drift

Music-themed fabric, fat quarter (see Tip)

Brown print fabric for reindeer 12in (30.5cm) square

Silvery-blue fabric for frozen pond 7in x 24in (17.8cm x 61cm)

Fabric scraps in reds, blues and pale pink for children, Santa and mini bunting

Fabric scraps in greens and browns for trees

Fabric scraps in tans, browns and ‘snow’ print for gingerbread men and house

Fabric scraps in grey for birds

Red-patterned ric-rac ½in (1.3cm) wide x 26in (66cm)

White ric-rac ¼in (6mm) wide x 9in (23cm) for house door

Silver and black hand- and machine-quilting thread

Stranded embroidery cotton (floss) for embroidery in white, dark brown and hair colours of your choice

Short length of hessian twine or garden string to hang mini quilt

Backing fabric 26in (66cm) square

Thin wadding (batting) 24in (61cm) square

Pigma fine permanent fabric pen in brown

Embellishments – I used a little rolling pin, a willow heart and buttons for the mini quilt (see Suppliers)

Finished size

24in (61cm) square approx.

Use ¼in (6mm) seams throughout, unless otherwise stated

tip

There are many delightful motifs in