Many people are scared of patchwork because it is so time-consuming, whereas for me that is part of its charm. Each stage is satisfying; you can swap around as the fancy takes you and the little pieces are transformed into pretty shapes remarkably quickly. I tack the individual pieces lazily on one long thread and, as long as they don’t get tangled, they end up looking like lengths of bunting. I also sew the tacked pieces together in sections which again produces satisfying mini patchworks very quickly. This seat cushion involves about 420 pieces. That’s 1,680 sides to tack and 840 two-inch seams to sew. Which sounds intimidating. How much nicer to think of it as thirty-six patched squares that will eventually join up.

Jane