project #3 – two seat cushions

I finally finished the couch! All the pieces are finally done. I put together the two seat cushions with the white duck cloth (heavy fabric, that has a canvas look and feel to it), put together the four pillows, and finally the two accent pillows. All in all, it really made our apartment look more spacious.

How did I do it? It started out with a lot of measuring and a self-delivered pep talk (You can do this! You can do this!). If you have been following my projects, you have probably seen my Pinterest project #2 (where one seat was covered). At the time, when I covered it, I quickly hand-stitched the fabric. The reason? I had left over fabric and wanted to see if I had enough to cover one seat cushion. I liked the look so much that I decided to leave it there. Sadly, I had to unravel the stitching and correctly sew together the pieces to the seat cushions.

Two weeks ago, I went to the fabric store and bought some more duck cloth and zippers for my project. This time, I remembered to buy fabric chalk, so I could mark the lines where I would be able to cut neatly. If you do not have the marking tool, but crayon works just as well (preferably yellow on a lighter colored fabric).

Afterwards, I measured out the seat cushions and added 1/2″ to each side to leave room for stitching. Then, I laid out my patterns on the floor to account for each of the sides of the rectangular prism. The tricky part was getting one panel that will have a zipper, so I could slip the cushion through like a pillowcase.

After I sewed together all of the pieces, it looked like this from the inside with all the frayed edges.

After I turned the cover inside out, the pillow looked seamless and smooth. I was so excited to slip the cover over the old brown microsuede!

Here is the outcome of the cover!

Okay, so after I finished the first one, I worked on the second seat cushion. This time, it was much more fitted and clean looking, I had to redo the first one. As you can see below, there was a big difference.

I put the two seat cushions along with four large pillows and two accent envelop pillows together….

Not only am I happy with the overall look, my husband also approves! It is like having a brand new couch!

Total breakdown of cost and labor:
duration of the project – 4 months (but can be finished in 4 days, if committed)
5.5 yards of (5 yd x 58″) semi off-white duck cloth $12.98/yd
1.5 yard of French writing pattern $12.98/yd
1 Fatt Batt bag for two envelope pillows (size: crib)
2 Fatt Batt bag for four large pillows (size: twin)
needle and thread to secure the batting (self)
1 large neutral maxi-lock thread at $8.99/roll
2 – 24″ seat cushion separating zippers $5.40/each
4 – 18″ invisible zippers $2.40/each
—
about > $180.00

Regrets/Feedback/Compliments:
– Yes I have spent quite a lot of money on this project. Nevertheless, I am happy with the final look. Not only does the apartment look a lot more inviting, but it also makes my apartment look contemporary and chic!

– I would probably do it all over again! It took me many months to finish this project.

– I truly want to thank my two friends Olivia and Iram, for letting me borrow their sewing machines! Yay!

– It is always fun to have a craft day with friends!

Related articles

• then there are four large pillows (sunshinebelinda.wordpress.com)