As I started to describe last night, I'm working on dining room chair cushions from foam pieces I bought years ago. I found some great fabric that I had no other plans for, cut a big chunk off (that I thought would be more than enough <ooo, foreshadowing>), washed and dried the fabric, and that is when I realized the fabric has a one-way stretch. Think of something like jeggings - they stretch in one direction (side to side) more than the other (up and down). This is not really what you want for a seat cushion cover, but I decided to use it anyway, and just make sure the fabric around the edges was NOT cut on the stretchy direction.
Ok, so I started to trace each cushion onto the fabric, leaving room for seams, etc. After the 2nd one, I realized that this new direction of cutting meant I was not going to have enough fabric. I decided to sew those two and figure out how "short" I was going to be before cutting and washing another chunk. I used the exact same technique to measure two edge pieces. One ended up fine...the other, too short.
Ok, so I started to trace each cushion onto the fabric, leaving room for seams, etc. After the 2nd one, I realized that this new direction of cutting meant I was not going to have enough fabric. I decided to sew those two and figure out how "short" I was going to be before cutting and washing another chunk. I used the exact same technique to measure two edge pieces. One ended up fine...the other, too short.
Arrgg...how do I DO this??
Anyway, at this point I decided to just fully finish at least ONE cushion, so I could figure out how many other mistakes I'd made. I finished one edge, no issues. For the opening, I basically took 2 short pieces 2 inches wide, stitched down one long edge, and then overlapped them.
I sewed the short edge (with the cushion ties) to the short edge of the other piece, with the slight overlap to hide the opening.
Then I took the first flat piece and lined it up with the edge, and pinned it down all the way around. This method means each cover is going to be custom fit to that cushion. I have no idea how I'll keep these straight when I wash them, but that's a problem for another day. ;P I pulled the pinned pieces off the cushion, stitched them together, and put them back on in order to fit the second flat piece. I repeated the pinning process around the edge.
Now here's the problem...I had to get the cushion OUT of the cover, while not moving any of the pins, and not jabbing myself in the hand 100 times. I asked my husband to help...and that went about as well as you could expect. He commented that it was much like doing something rude to a porcupine, and made the brilliant suggestion of using safety pins next time. ;P Folks, lemme tell ya that most of the time, he's the smart one in this relationship.
After stitching down that seam, I trimmed everything on the inside so it would lay nicely when turned right-side out.
And then turned it, stuffed it, and gave it to my youngest. She declared it a success!
After she wiggled around on it, you can see where the opening gaps a little bit in the back. No big deal, but I'll probably make the overlap bigger if I ever do this again.
I measured the fabric I will need to finish the other 3, washed and dried it last night...now just to find the time to finish them, too, and we'll all have much happier bottoms at the dinner table! :)
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