DIY Deer Cushion Covers

   I made these cushions for Seeg's mum's birthday. They were relatively easy to do, though I admit to cheating a bit. I didn't make the covers from scratch, I bought them pre-made in the colours I wanted and just sewed the deer on, but I'm still pleased with how they came out!

What You Will Need:

• Scissors
• Cushion Covers
• Felt
• Needle and Matching Thread
• Glue (optional)

1. First of all, if you need to dye your covers, do this first. The brown cover I bought was cream on the back, so I dyed it a lighter shade of brown. The two sides didn't match, of course, but a lighter brown was better than cream. If you dye it, wash it several times to ensure the dye is thoroughly permanent, and not about to stain the felt when it next goes in for a wash.

2. Design your deer on paper, or whatever it is you want on your cushions. Once you're happy with the design, cut it out and draw on the felt around the paper carefully and gently. I used a pencil, which made the felt a little wooly, but there is no chance of ink seeping through and staining anything. Cut your felt out.

3. I had a problem with my male deer. His antlers, as you can see, are long and narrow, and they moved about an awful lot, so what I did was use a little bit of glue and stuck it down to the cover, where I wanted to stitch it. Obviously, glue is not reliable in this case, but it served my purpose. I used only a little bit, then let it dry. Being PVA glue, it washed out afterwards. Mod Podge would work, and be much stronger, if you're not confident about your stitching, and it won't wash out, but if you're looking to glue instead, I'd recommend just going straight to fabric glue.

4. Once the glue is dry, begin stitching from the inside of the cover. I started with the antlers because they were the biggest nuisance.

5. Once you've stitched the lot down, you can wash the covers to get rid of the glue

Tada!!