Construction....no more deconstruction....

First, I like to remind myself when I do projects to get a glimpse at the finish line so I held up a piece of fabric to the completed paint. I like it. Lots.

So in an attempt to be thrifty, I ordered upholstery foam online and it arrived. It looked like the child of the Planter's Peanuts character.

Beginning to expand....

Spreading out....

I was pleased at what I received for a few dollars that would be three times as much at a craft store.

So let's do some assembly!

First, I stapled down burlap and a padded edge I made last week on the seat. The padded edge is simply a stuffed burlap sleeve. This keeps the sharp edge of the wood frame from causing wear and tear to the cushion.

The inside edge of the stuffed sleeve is down. The burlap is lightly stapled on the inside frame.

This is the old, original cotton I laid back on the back frame. I really thought about how to do this back padding. I could cut out 3-4 inch foam and shape it.

After fluffing up the top edge, I decided to reuse the cotton.

I laid over the cotton a layer of the 1/2 inch foam. This is about halfway through tucking in the edges to be stapled down in the back and across the top.

Putting this foam on was fairly easy. It was simply laying it over the cotton and pulling it through against the frame along the side and top and stapling down. As I did this, I constantly checked for smoothness and evenness.

Here it is done. I am pleased with the firm and even shape.

Decided to try the cushion on it, and it fits. With the extra batting and foam it's puffed up a bit, which is exactly what I want. Reupholstered furniture not plump enough has a tired, shriveled look. We all took a test ride and sat on this. Lots of thumbs up.

So I keep promising to start on this, and the foot to my machine has arrived. Put away the chair and pulled out the fabric tools.

Cutting. Since I added more batting to this cushion I added 1/2 inch more around the edge of the cover. It will be very tight to put the cushion into this thing. but again, tight and puffy is  the look I'm doing for.

Next up on the to-do list; making bias for the piping. For non sewers, what is bias? The piping around the cushions there is a cord wrapped in fabric--that fabric is bias. It is cut on the diagonal of fabric because it is stretchier when you do that. You want it stretchy so you can wrench it around corners on square cushions. Cutting fabric on a 45 degree angle is referred to as "cutting on the bias". The resulting stretchy strip of fabric is referred to as "bias" strips. So you have to cut yards and yards of these strips then sew them end to end. If you want to try a new trick I found for how to make bias by simply measuring, sewing one seam and doing one long cut....click here. I did it tonight and will be doing that again.

The most basic of projects seem to need yards and yards and yards of bias. It is a bit tedious.

Non sewers who simply want to get their mind wrapped around how to make piping, here is a basic tutorial for that. It also shows how to use a zipper foot on your machine to make it which is handy.

......

Making the piping and double welting was surprisingly easy. The new machine foot worked like a charm. I not only managed to whip out all the piping I needed in one evening but also a generous supply of double welting and got pretty deep into assembling the cushion.

One of these things is not like the other, yet they are all the same.

Feeding cording through the foot. I'm pleased at how easy this is with the new foot and how fast this is going.

Completed single welt.

Feeding through double welting.

Completed.

I spent my first evening, only one evening, making single piping for the cushion and double welting for the finishing edge. Because I'm not great at sewing and running a camera at the same time, I recommend taking a look at this video for a simple tutorial.

After making the piping, I continued to use the foot to start making the cushion cover. Anytime you need to feed a cording through the machine, use the foot.

One side of the cushion cover is complete. I like the look.

So hey, I'm on a roll....let's keep going! Let's put on the zipper.

I continued to use the piping foot because feeding a zipper through a machine is similar to putting piping through.

I did a fancy detail I learned where the zipper pull will be tucked into a small pocket of the cushion.

 

I hope you get at least a small idea of how to assemble a cushion through my pictures. The steps went in this order:

• Making piping.
• Attaching piping to the two faces of the cushion.
• Create zipper panel and attached to non-zipper side panels. (Zippers and pulls can be purchased at any craft store with upholstery supplies. I bought enough for two zippers, and spent $3.)
• Install side panel to the two faces.

I really really really recommend this Sailrite video on the complete step by step process of assembling a cushion. Especially the extra detail of having the tucked in zipper pull--I have never seen that detail and wanted to try it after watching. Obviously I didn't watch the pattern placement as much as she did in the video to make sure things lined up, but I appreciate that aspect of the video because it helped me in my last project that had the paisley design. Those sorts of details make DIY projects look professional.

Ta daaa!

Next? I will be going back to the seat of the frame and making the platform that the cushion sits on. Once that is made and attached, I am done with the sewing machine.

Here is the forecast:

• Seat of the frame.
• Upholster the back.
• Upholster the inside arms.
• Upholster the outside arms.
• Upholster the back.
• Apply dust cover to the bottom.
• Flip it over and sit on it because it's done at that point.