Quick Cushion Refresh

One of the things I love about sewing is how quickly a project can come together  (ok, not quilts they are a bit more long term) that can update or freshen up a room or piece of furniture.

This little chair belonged to my mother-in-law and years ago I replaced the original (well not original-original - I think my in-laws had it made by an upholsterer) threadbare cushion and crumbling cushion pad for her, buying and cutting a new piece of foam to shape and completely re-making the cover. The only original components that I kept were the press-stud tabs that are attached to the bottom edge of the cushion and clip into fittings underneath the chair to hold it in place. We inherited this chair a few years ago and after standing in our hallway and regularly having a cat or a grubby schoolbag settled on top that cover became a bit shabby and so it was time for another makeover.

This time I re-used as much of the existing cushion as possible (for both ease and to minimise waste), the foam pad and the underside of the cushion cover including the press-stud tabs could be re-used and even the piping cord was fine to strip out and use again. 

The underside section has a Velcro opening to make fitting the cover as easy as possible.

I chose one of my favourite fabrics, a linen that is actually included in my Panda Story Cushion kit, to cover it and quilted the top piece by quilting a rectangle slightly larger overall than the cushion pad and then (using the previous cover as a template) cutting it to size.

Adding the piping to the top and pre-existing underside was really quick to do and then it was just a case of pinning and sewing each to the side gusset piece one at a time making sure the centre points of the top and underside pieces lined up and so it didn't look 'twisted' when finished.

Ideally the piping cord would have been covered using bias strips making it slightly easier around the curves but it would have meant too much off-cut fabric going into the scraps pile and so I went with straight-edge.

The last job was to blot away the pen lines with a damp cloth and fit the cushion onto the chair with the press-studs.

Sometimes a quick project and the instant-ish gratification and sense of accomplishment it gives can be a much-needed boost - especially after a week of scouring instructions for mistakes, adjusting print layouts and other tasks with less tangible results... 

Oh and it seems like it might become popular with our new cat.

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