Cushion Covers

My husband and I got a pair of cushions as a gift for our wedding, which was five years ago. They're lovely and soft, but the covers are not removable and over the years have gotten VERY bobbly, which just gives them a kind of tattered look. I decided that my first REALLY practical, usable project should be new covers for these cushions. I wanted to add some stripes in different colors, and I wanted them to go with our brown couch. I don't have a zipper foot for my machine yet--and in any case I don't feel ready to tackle that!--so I knew I wanted it to have an envelope closure. I'd just learned about bias tape, so I figured I'd use that to finish off the visible end of the closure.

I'm quite pleased with how the turned out. I'm still making some mistakes and things aren't always as neat as they could be, but I'm clearly learning and improving with every project I take on.

My husband was really taken with them and insisted on showing them off to his co-workers who have degrees in textiles and so on. I told him that it was kind of like a super-proud parent showing off his five-year-old's scribbles to a professional artist. ;) But it's adorable that he's so excited about my new hobby. Please excuse the slightly dog-haired look of the cushions, though. Since these are for us rather than for a gift or anything else I just tossed them on the couch and my dog Helo decided that he rather liked them as well. There's no amount of lint rolling that can handle a direct hit from Helo!

I'm glad I chose to use the bias tape. Like the rest of the covers it is more practice than professional looking, but the second one looks significantly better than the first, and that's a good sign, right? :D