Recently, I had the opportunity to work with Little Oaks Montessori owner, Dr. Heather Abott. She is well versed in child psychology, which makes her a great person to open up a Montessori.
She wanted the new school to be inviting. She asked if I could make comfy a little bench cushion made for the children to sit and read. Upholstery being a bit scary did make me pause for a second.
This is what the other side of the hallway looks like. Both the wooden bench and the tree bookshelf were made locally by Ginny Bins. Isn’t that so cute! I want the bookshelf for my house!
Back when I had first started to sew, about 7 years ago I thought a good second major sewing project would be to reupholster my sofa!😄 The actual sofa taking apart and putting back together with new guts was the easy part. Where I failed was finishing the cushion covers. I cut all the pieces for the cushion cover and even sewed up the sides to the top piece. Trying it on for fit… I about cried because it didn’t fit. Being discouraged I never finished the cushion. Looking back, my choices made the task much more difficult for a beginner: using minky type fabric, making and using piping, not having or knowing about walking feet, and of course using a sub-par machine didn’t help. Here is a picture of just a couple steps before I abandoned ship.
Wanting to prove to myself that I could do it and loving a challenge, I accepted! This being the first House of Lilli order outside of the friends and family circle was icing on the cake. Look at that corner!
After researching and finding a few tutorials that were saying the same thing, I was able to devise a plan that came very close to what Heather wanted.
I used two different sites to figure out what I wanted. There was no piping which simplified everything just a bit. You can read them here and here.
First I glued the two foam pieces together using some heavy duty glue. I was told at the store not to use epoxy glue because it eats away the foam. Good to know! Then added batting around the foam and used a stapler to close the batting.
Fabric was cut – two top and bottom pieces. Then three pieces to go around the sides. Two additional pieces of fabric was used for the zipper side. I wanted the zipper hidden so I created a triangle housing at the end of the zipper piece.
The one thing I forgot to do before construction was to finish the edges with the server. But I was able to work around it, using a 3-thread overlook stitch, which turned out to be what I needed to use anyway to reduce the bulk. I also did a topstitch around all the pieces, to mimic what I saw on my own sofa.
I officially have conquered my fear of upholstery cushion covers! Will I do it again? Sure! If the price is right!😉
What sewing fears have you conquered lately? How did it turn out?