Have sewing machine, will sew.

I've been going a little cushion crazy this week - I made a foam one with piping for a bench, and another for a rocking chair and a matching toss pillow to go with this one.

We bought this storage bench a while ago from Craig's list for our hallway

and also this rocking chair from a charity shop for one of the bedrooms

and ever since, they've both been needing seat cushions.

The bench was evidently smaller than the average bench as the only ones I could find to fit were for kids toy chests with yacky material and a steep prince tag ... Then I found this amazing tutorial from Pretty Handy Girl via CSI project for a piped bench cushion so I went about making one instead.

The tutorial is really clear and detailed so I'm not going to repeat it step by step but here are the main steps and materials:

2" foam to fit
Carving knife
Batting to cover foam twice
Fabric
Piping (about 6 yards in all)
Sewing machine
Pins

I cut the foam to size using a bread knife - I've read that an electric carving knife is good for this too but I don't have one of these. I found that just pulling the knife backwards rather than in a sawing motion helped make a much cleaner cut. I then wrapped the batting around to cover each side twice and secure with tape temporarily to stop it from unrolling whilst making the cushion.

The I cut all 7 pieces of fabric (6 sides and an extra piece for the back flap) with around 1.5" excess for hemming and placed over the cushion and pinned

Then ironed and sewed along the lines to make a guide to follow for the piping

I actually found the piping rather difficult to deal with - it had a tiny hem of 1/4 inch so not much to grab hold of and too small to both pin and machine sew so I just had to hold it in place which made for a wonky seam in places.

The back is an envelope fastening so there are two pieces that overlap - one sewn to top and sides and one to the bottom only. This is secured with velcro so the cushion cover can be changed.

And that is that. I'm a beginner sewer so I found this challenging but very doable.

I'm contemplating stenciling the fabric to make it a bit less ...well beige...will keep you posted

and since I'd now got the hang of it, I then made a smaller one for the rocking chair with gorgeous but cheapo remnant fabric. Same basic method but I added rounded edges for the back corners and little tie tassles at the back too 

Then I was really on a roll. I had some leftover fabric from making this union jack cushion so did a quickie stars and stripes one to match...

Sophie

goodwill sweater pillow

I feel like I've seen tons of sweater pillows on Pinterest but I think it may actually just be the same few pics that have been repinned over and over! Anyway, when I saw these 2 bad boys in Goodwill at half off I grabbed them quick.

The small one is Ralph Loren no less, not too shabby eh? Almost too good to cut up. Alas it's a kid's size 8-10 and since I don't have any kids and it pretty much fitted a 12x16 pillow straight off, I decided to make it into a pillow cover after all.

I turned it inside out, snipped off the arms and sewed from the arm seam straight down on each side and across the neck (as per the black lines on pic), leaving the bottom open.

There wasn't enough body left to make a fold over enveloped style flap so I got 3 large buttons and used the piping from the sleeves to make loops for the buttons - looks a little scruffy on the inside but fine on the outside - maybe I can get away with calling it 'rustic'

 


Buttons on, pillow in, finished.  I like how you can still see the neckline! No mistaking this was previously a jumper!

 

 

Sophie

union jack cushion

Looky looky....

I just turned these....

...into this:

Isn't it loverly jubberly? My dad has suggested I may be a little homesick.... He's probably right...ah well

I'd been lusting after a nice vintage-y union jack cushion like this or this for a while but couldn't really justify the £80 price tag. Here's how I did it.

Materials I used:

2 thrift store tops and some left over fabric from these chairs
Old pillow case
Fabric glue
Sewing machine
Cereal box
Pencil
Ruler
12x16 pillow

I took the old pillow case and cut down the long edges and along the bottom so I had one complete side. I slotted the pillow and pinned an envelope shape wrong side out.

I removed the pillow and ironed the creases so I knew the area I had to work with.

Next I made a template for the flag - I was tempted to do it all by sight but realised that could have gone seriously wrong so played it safe. I used a cereal box because I didn't have any other card to hand (good old Cheerios).

I made the strips first - the "+" one was upholstery fabric and quite thick so I ironed and sewed a seam on it so it was easier to work with.

The "x" was from the shirt - it had a handy horizontal stripe across the chest (why i chose it in the first place ...) so this was easy enough to cut straight - I didn't bother doing a seam on this one.

I also made a separate template for cutting the 8 triangular pieces from the cotton blouse.

Then I layered pieces making sure there was clear space between for the base fabric to come through.

I then sewed the "+" onto the pillow case, glued the "x" and the triangular pieces.

When dry, I turned it inside out and finally sewed along the crease line I had made earlier and cut away any excess material from the glued pieces. This ensured when I turned it back right way and all the edges were nice and clean.

Finished. I love it.

 So does Archie....

Sophie

fabulous fabric

My mum came to stay with us a couple of weeks ago all the way from Manchester (UK). It was so brilliant to see her and spend time just hanging out. She came bearing gifts - this beautiful quilt she made for us. I really really love it and it must have taken her ages. How lucky am I?

I love the bright colours against our plain neutral sofas. We spent a lot of time whilst she was here at various fabric stores like Jo-ann's - evidently fabric is much better value in the US so mum stocked up on pieces for upcoming projects.

Unlike my mum however, I am pretty much a sewing novice. To date, my projects had been limited to wood and repainting and a touch of reupholstering - I haven't sewn anything from scratch yet. But at least I'm one step closer - I now own a sewing machine, gulp.

It's a very basic model which is perfect for me and the too long curtains in the bedroom have now finally been properly hemmed and look far neater than my previous hand stitch *pats myself on back*

I want to make covers for some sofa toss pillows and I've pinned a whole load of fabrics I love on pinterest but there are too many, how do I choose?!!