Two Slipcovers

I need help

     My son and daughter-in-law got two chairs from her parents when they moved.  The orange color didn't work with their decor and the seat cushions were in bad shape.

Template

     I told them, no problem.  I would get new cushions made and make slipcovers for the chairs.

New cushion

     I mean, how hard can it be?  I have sewn just about everything else.  I made a template and sent it off to get new cushions made.  I had them wrapped with Dacron and a muslin cover.

The fabric is here

     That part was easy.  Next I bought and watched a couple of Craftsy classes on making slipcovers.  I took careful notes and then went to order the fabric.  I wasn't sure how much to get and I wanted to be sure I had enough.  They wanted a chocolate brown corduroy fabric.  I wound up with enough to cover four chairs :-(

New covered cushion

     The cushion covers went together easily.  I used the template to cut the fabric, adding a half inch seam allowance all the way around.

Cording detail

       I made yards and yards of covered cord, using the outdoor cording as it has more body and I felt it would hold the shape of the slipcover better.

New cushion in place

     Now on to the fun/unknown part.  First step was to create the front of the arm piece.  Well guess what, this chair did not have that configuration.

Step one done

      Well I created one and now on to the rest.  Of course this being a barrel type chair, it meant I had to create the back in multiple pieces.  I took a rectangle of fabric, laid it on the chair and then used my Chac-o-liner to trace a pattern.  I cut each piece, serged the edges and sewed them together.  It was kind of like putting a jigsaw puzzle together after you made the pieces.

Ready for the skirt

     I kept tracing, cutting and sewing until I had the top part done..  Then I was ready for the skirt.

Not quite right

     I cut the pieces, put them together to hide the seams in the pleats and added lining and then attached it to the top part.  A zipper was placed in the back and velcro was added to the skirt part to keep it closed.

Almost there

     After I had it all together, I didn't like how loose it was.  More tweaking involved now.  I tightened the seams in the middle of the back pieces, the top and bottom part were okay.

Finally finished

     Finally I got it as fitted as I could.  I put the cushion on and it didn't look half bad.  I am very glad I did both slipcovers at the same time because I don't know if I could have replicated it a second time.  One lesson learned, slipcovers are not my thing (except maybe on an ottoman or something much smaller).  I will stick to pillows, shades and draperies I believe.  I hope my son and his family like their new chairs.

Another T-shirt Quilt

Quilt design layout

      A few months ago I had someone come to me for their second t-shirt quilt.  They had won the previous on that I donated to a raffle/auction.  When her other son saw the finished project, he decided that he wanted one also.

Finished top pinned to fleece backing

     Her son and her made up a layout and sent me the photo.  When she dropped off the shirts, we had to tweak it a little because of the fact that one of them was a polo shirt which isn't as easy to use in this quilt.

Trimming the backing

     I took part the shirts, pieced the two squares that needed to be done.  I then stabilized everything and cut them to size.  Sewed them with a 1/2 inch seam allowance and pressed all the seams open.  Then I pinned it to the fleece backing and trimmed it to size.  I stitched around, leaving an opening for turning.  Turned it right side out, and stitched close to the edge all around.  I did small crosses on in the ditch stitches at all the corners.

Finished quilt

     Her son was happy with his new blanket.  Is your child the next one?  I can teach you how to make your own or I can do it for you.  Contact me at celeste@sewmuchfun.biz

Tooth Fairy Pillow

Tooth fairy applique

     A couple of months ago, I got a call from my daughter that our oldest grandson had a very loose tooth.  Did I have a tooth fairy pillow that I could make for him?

Getting the supplies together for his pillow

     I looked through my embroidery designs and sure enough I had one from DigiStitches, now with Designs by Juju.  I went through my stash of scraps and gathered all the supplies.

The applique process

     He did request a hanger on it so I found ribbon in my stash also. I did add his name to the design in my software.  The stitching is really quite easy.  You just have to stop and trim the fabric after each step of the appliqué process.

Back of the pillow

     There is a pocket on the back, as well as the front one that holds the tooth, I guess you could put a note to the tooth fairy in there.

All finished

     A few hours later, I had a pillow all ready for his first loose tooth.

Baby Shower Presents

Original fabric choices

     A friend is expecting her first baby, a little boy, next month.  A neighbor threw a shower for her and this is what I made.

Sleep sack, hat and final fabric choice

     I looked at her registry and saw the color that she chose for the nursery was mostly grey.  I wanted to embroider some items for her.  From my stash of ready to embroidery baby items, I chose a sleep sack in blue and one in white.  I also chose matching hats and a soft white blanket with satin binding.

Bunny applique

     I was going to do an appliqué baby animal in four different colors on each of the four corners of the white blanket.  After doing the first in the turquoise blue that matched the sleep sack, I opted to do all four in the same color way.  I really liked how it turned out.

Giraffe applique 

     I was planning on embroidering something onto the sleep sack and hats also.  The sleep sacks were lightweight and I didn't feel like they would hold an embroidery design too well.  Also the appliqué design I used on the blanket would have overwhelmed the little sleep sack.

Little lamb applique

    I had gotten these designs from Embroidery Library to make something for one of my grandkids and I really liked how well they turned out.

Teddy bear appliqué

     I used a grey color for the eyes and mouths instead of black, it matched the room and also softened the look a little.

Double flannel blanket

     Then I made a receiving blanket from flannel.  A pretty soft grey with the turquoise car print.  I really liked how it all coordinated and matched the baby's room.

Monogrammed Outdoor Pillows

Monogrammed outdoor pillows

     For Christmas this year I made my daughter and her husband some pillows for their outdoor furniture that we bought them for their new house.

Cutting the bias fabric to cover the outdoor cording

     I chose Sunbrella fabric and weather resistant pillow forms.  I bought it all from Online Fabrics.  The idea is that they should bring them inside but in case they get left out and it rains, they should still hold up.

Matching the stripes on the bias cut fabric

     I bought coordinating solid and stripe fabrics.  The smaller pillows were made with the solid with the striped covered cord and the larger pillows were the stripe with the solid covered cord.  I also used an outdoor cording for the pillows.

Trimming the monogram fabric in the hoop

     I cut the cording covering on the bias and matched the stripes while sewing the pieces together.  I used an appliqué monogram from Designs by Juju, the Wanda font in the 7-inch size.  I stitched them onto the smaller pillows using a slightly different part of the stripe on each one.

Smaller pillows with appliquéd monograms

     I carefully assembled the fronts with the covered cord and the backs with the lapped zipper near the bottom.  The small pillows went together just fine.  The striped ones however were a different matter.  I had made sure to mark the top of the stripe as I cut the pillow pieces so they would all be oriented the right way.  What I forgot was that to match the stripes, the back piece actually had to be upside down.

Matching the stripes on the front and back

     I really didn't want to redo either the front or back and not having the stripes match would really bother me.  I opted to sew the front piece on upside down, thus the join of the covered cord was on top.  That to me was the best solution, especially as I was sewing these the day before our get together.  Nothing like last minute pressure.

Larger striped pillows

    They really liked the pillows and I'm not sure they even noticed the join at the top of the pillow.