Sewing Round Things is Tricky

Another small detail I crafted for the great room are four round cushions. They’re pretty nifty as they not only continue the round motif, but they match the colors of the space.

I started by cutting out circles from two different upholstery fabrics, a deep blue and a soft grey. Then I made piping from a velvety blue fabric that is almost a perfect match for the armchairs in the upstairs. Piping is pretty easy to make and I learned the technique when I made some dog beds out of the foam from old mattress toppers. It adds a really nice rigidity to structures, as I just use clothes line rope for the inner core which is super thick compared to what you’d find in the ready-made cording area of a fabric store.

Attaching the piping to the circles was a bit tricky as I also wanted the cushions to all have zippers so I could remove them if they ever needed to be cleaned. That was a huge sewing challenge, but slow and steady conquered it.

For the pillow inserts I crafted some simple disc pillows from muslin and then filled them with the some hoarded packing material that I shredded up — outside as it was a very messy process. Then, before the pillows were almost completely filled, I safety-pinned them closed and stuffed them into the covers. Once the pillow was inside, I added some extra filling since the cushions would deflated with use, whipstitched them close and then zipped up the covers.

Here are pics of the finished cushions. Best of all, they work as seat cushions for the dining room chairs as well. Which is great when you are sitting in one doing a jigsaw puzzle….