New Throw Pillows To Match My Tuffet- A Tutorial

So after I recovered my tuffet,

I decided that the throw pillows on the sofa

and chairs were looking old and dull.

I measured my pillows and cut the pieces I needed,

allowing an extra inch all the way around,

for a 1/2" seam allowance.

These pillows were about 17" square.

So I cut two pieces of 18"x18" for each pillow.

 

I pulled out some of the leftover piping

I had from when I made my new sofa slipcover.

You can read all about my sofa slipcover and how I made the piping

HERE.

I pinned it along the outside edge of one

side of the pillow fabric.

I snipped into the seam allowance of the piping

so it would curve around the pillow corner.

I cut the piping a bit long where it meets up.

I cut off the excess piping cord to reduce bulk.

Folding the edge of one side of the piping under,

I wrap it around the other side.

Then I just pin it and sew it down.

I am using my piping foot on my Janome

machine but I usually use my zipper foot

on my Bernina for large piping.

This is what it looks like with the piping all pinned in place.

Next, I pulled out a long zipper

from my stash so I could make the new

pillow cover removeable.

Using my zipper foot,

I sew the zipper onto the piping,

wrong side up. 

If I sew it right side up, I will not

be able to open up the zipper when it is on the pillow.

Next, I lay the back piece of the pillow

on to of the front piece, 

right sides together,

matching up the sides,

and pin the seam allowances to the other side of the zipper.

I sew the zipper in place.

After the zipper is sew in place,

I can lay open it up and see that it is ready

to sew the rest of the pillow sides together.

This is how it looks from the back side.

Make sure that you have unzipped the zipper several

inches so you can get into the pillow cover

after the sides are all sewn.

 

Match up your sides and pin all the way around.

Using your zipper or piping foot,

sew as close to your piping edge as you can.

You can follow the line of stitching you used

when you sewed the piping on, 

or move your needle position 1 or 2 clicks

further away from your foot.

Go slow and careful around the corners.

You can see that I am sewing over the extra length

of the zipper end. 

 

 

When you finish sewing, 

you can trim the corners or not.

I usually do not for piped corners

as the extra fabric kind of fills out

the corner nicely.

 

The zipper is snug against the piping and makes it very easy

to remove the pillow cover for washing,

or just when you decide you need a change.

This was actually an old zipper that I reused.

All finished and pretty.

Because of the placement of the print on the fabric,

and because I didn't want to waste any

of my beloved fabric,

I was not able to center the floral motif on each pillow.

But I love them anyway.

I am glad I finally cut into this fabric.

And pillows are a great way to add 

color using just a little bit of a favorite fabric.

Happy Sewing!

Sprucing Up My Tuffet

This is my beloved tuffet.

As in 

"Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet."

I made this tuffet about 10 years ago.

Ahnalin was waving her hand in front of my 

phone so excuse the blur.

I built it out of junk I begged

for from the guys in the back room

of the furniture store where I used to work.

Part of it is a miniature mattress sample,

wrapped in foam and batting,

stapled to a piece of plywood.

The bun feet were from an old dresser or something.

This is NOT a beautifully built piece of 

fine furniture!

I had been putting off recovering it because

I loved the linen toile I had used originally. 

But the stains on it were getting ugly and

gross and it was definitely time to be freshened up.

I had purchased this colorful floral linen print

from Schumacher when I was pregnant with India.

I have this problem with fabric.

You see, I fall in love with a certain fabric,

and then I hold on to it forever, 

afraid that if I cut into it, 

I will be disappointed if it doesn't turn out perfectly.

I decided to get over myself and use it!

So, I grabbed my handy dandy staple gun

and went to town!

I measured the tuffet and

realized I could just wrap the fabric around it.

So I cut off the amount I needed and got going.

There was almost no sewing involved in this project.

I folded the fabric around the rounded corners 

and stapled it in place.

I cut the fabric around where the bun feet needed

to be able to screw back in.

Yes, my staples are not perfectly placed.

But I had to remind myself that most people would

not turn over my tuffet to inspect my staples.

In my usual quest for perfection,

I can procrastinate instead of just plowing forward.

I decided this did not need to be perfect.

I got out some leftover piping

and stapled it to the bottom edge

to make it look more finished.

I curved round the corner and stapled it in place.

When I make pillows or slipcovers,

I sew the piping to be continuous,

but decided to just staple the 

end piece over the starting piece.

I am not super strong in my hands,

so sometimes the staples don't go all the way in.

So, I just use my tack hammer to hammer them down.

I screwed the bun feet back on,

and yes, that is the selvage stapled down.

All done!

After putting off this little project for years,

I got it done in about an hour,

start to finish!

I also made new throw pillow covers to match.

That will be the next post!

The New Slipcover For The Old Ugly Sofa- Part 3

Hello again!

I am finally getting around to posting Part 3

of "The New Slipcover For The Old Ugly Sofa".

If you are just happening upon this post,

you can read Part 1 

HERE

and then Part 2

HERE.

Part 3 is all about how I made the

new cushion covers.

 Happy Happy Me!!

As I showed in Part 1,

I had measured around the circumference of the 

cushions for the boxing measurement.

Part of this boxing would include the zipper.

 So the zippered portion of the cushion cover would

have to be in two pieces.

The original (ugly) cushion covers had the zippers

measured to 30 inches, 

so I just used that same measurement.

For each cushion, I cut 2 pieces, 

each the length of the zipper.

 Then I sewed them together with a 

basting stitch and pressed

the seams open.

I cut the length of the zipper roll

and made sure I had a zipper pull on it!

I had to be careful not to zip that pull off

before I stitched the ends closed.

I pinned the zipper under neath the seam. 

Then I sewed the zipper in place using my zipper foot.

As I got close to the end of the zipper,

I carefully opened up a few inches of the seam

with my seam ripper. 

Then I lifted my presser foot with the needle still down.

I very carefully pulled the zipper open and past

the presser foot.

Next, I sewed the long boxing piece to

the zipper boxing panel, on each end.

I reinforced this seam and top-stitched it

for strength.

This boxing panel was the length of

the circumference of the cushion,

minus the zipper panel length,

plus about 3 inches for seam allowance

and a little zipper protection.

Then I tried the whole boxing strip on the ugly cushion. 

This is the zippered panel. 

After I tried the boxing panel on the cushion,
I was able to pleat the excess fabric over the

end of the zipper, to create a protective 

fold over the zipper head.

This will prevent that zipper pull from rubbing and

wearing the other fabric out.

After I got the boxing the correct size for the cushion,

I pinned the piping all around both edges.

Notice the cut ends of the piping on each side.

I stitched the piping all around and then left

the ends unstitched.

Where the piping overlapped, there was  

an excess of the piping cord.

So I pulled it out and cut it off.

Then I folded the excess piping fabric and 

wrapped it around the other side of the piping.

The cut ends of the piping cord met I could 

lay the piping fabric over them.

Then I was able to pin the piping down

and stitch it together with less bulk.

Once the boxing was all finished and piped,

it was time to wrap the cushions.

 

 

Uh wow.

Lets just get that covered, shall we?

As each of these foam cushions was actually

in pretty decent shape,

I decided to just wrap them with 

fresh batting.

I didn't even bother taking off the current cover.

As I wrapped them tightly, smoothing out the wrinkles,

I pinned the edges in place.

And then I stitched it all in place,

with a doubled thread for strength.

I wrapped the corners and stitched 

them down to the sides.

I cut 6 identical rectangles,

each the dimensions of the cushions plus 

1 inch on each side for the seam allowances.

  

Then I put the boxing on the wrapped cushion, 

wrong side out,

adjusting the zipper panel to the

correct edge of the cushion.

I opened each zipper a few inches so 

that I could unzip it to take it off 

once I was done pinning the top and bottom on.

Using the piping seam as a guideline,

I pinned the top and bottom seat panels

to the boxing.

This is the inside of the front edge of the cushion.

Each corner will end up being slightly rounded because 

of the wrapped cushions.

I pinned it to fit snugly.

As fabric fibers relax from being sat on,

the cushions can get sloppy looking.

I wanted it to fit cleanly so I made it tight.

After I pinned it all the way around, 

I reached into the unzipped area and 

unzipped the rest of the cushion.

Then I VERY VERY VERY carefully

pulled the pinned cushion cover off 

of the wrapped cushion.

I say very carefully because those sharp 

pins stabbed me so many times on this step!

Then all that was left was to 

sew those cushions together!

Once again, I used my zipper foot,

stitching on the piping seam to get

a snug seam for the cushions.

 After I sewed on the piping seam,

I ran another row of stitches,

1/8" away from the first row,

as reinforcement.

I didn't even trim off the 

excess fabric from the corners,

as that extra fabric provided a little more stability.

I turned the covers right side out!!!!!

  

And then  I stuffed those wrapped cushions back into 

the completed cushion covers,

and zipped them closed.

I covered a few old down throw pillows

with some plaid fabric from my stash,

and added some of the leftover 

sofa slipcover piping. 

Then I jumped up and down and did a gleeful

yet embarrassing happy dance!!!!!

Much whooping and hollering

and loud raucous singing took place at this point!!!

The old ugly sofa was completely hidden

and in it's place was exactly the sofa I had 

dreamed of when I bought the fabric

all those years ago!!!!

Thank you for bearing with me

for these 3 long posts.

I hope they have made sense

and maybe even helped you

drum up the courage to take on the

daunting task of making a fitted slipcover

for your sofa. 

Next up, 

Back to school sewing!

Happy Sewing,

Sivje