So Sew Organized

Like I said in this post , I decided to make most of my Christmas gifts this year. Happy to announce that the end is in sight! Which is a good thing, because so is Christmas. In the process, tho, I learned a great lesson I’d like to share with all of you. Especially the ones out there that sew. You’ll appreciate this most. Don’t ever buy pre-cut cloth. Now, for some of you that may be a no-brainer. I probably would have never done it either, until I moved to Canada. Up here, the buying cloth thing is way different. For one thing, most fabric is priced between $8-10 a meter. A meter is just a little less than a yard. .9144 of a yard, if you wanted to know exactly. Translate that into English: EXPENSIVE!!! And this is coming from the girl who broke out in hives when she had to pay over $2 a yard in the States. The other thing is that up here pre-cut fabric is way more common than in the States. In fact, our Walmart here doesn’t have any bolts any more, its all pre-cut. There goes...

Did you miss the other parts of this tutorial? You can read part 1 here and part 2 here. Well, here we are with the final part of this cushion tutorial. Personally the buttons were my favorite part. They just are so easy and come out so cute! You can buy the shells of these buttons at Walmart or any craft store. They come in several sizes, so pick whichever you prefer. I used 3/4” for these. I really wanted 1” ones, but our Walmart wasn’t carrying them any more. Bummer. To turn these buttons into beautifully matching masterpieces: 1. Cut out a circle of fabric for each button that is 1” bigger than the button. 2. Spray lightly with water. When it dries, it shrinks slightly, which makes for a nice, smooth button. 3. Center one circle of fabric over the button-maker. Place button shell over the opening, and push all the way in. 4. Tuck edges of fabric into the button shell and place back of button on top of this. Make sure the loop is facing up, or else you won’t have a way t...

Well, here we are with part two: cutting out your cushion and sewing it all together! Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures of the cutting out part, so you won’t get to see my mad cutting skills. :) but I will do my best to explain without pictures. Oh, and in case you missed Part 1 of this mini-series, which was how to make the cording, you can read it here . Cutting out your cushion: Cut cushion front and back whatever size you want, plus the depth measurement plus 1”. The depth measurement is necessary if you are making a box pillow/cushion, which I did. Fold front piece into fourths with corners together. Mark a point halfway between the corner and the fold on each open side. So you should have two points you mark. At the open corner, mark a third point that is 1/2” from each edge. Trim fabric from the point on the side to the point on the corner. Repeat on the other open side. Unfold the front and use it to trim the back piece in the same way. This step eliminates “dog-ea...

Here is the first of a three part tutorial on making chair cushions. I was asked to make these by a lady in our church here. I had never done it before, so it was certainly a learning experience! It is so exciting to see the finished product. I will warn you though, its a very tedious and time-consuming process. I could certainly not just whip these up in a few hours. It took a lot of time . But well worth it! This first part is going to be how to make the matching cording to go around the edges. Basically any chair pad or decorative pillow has this cording around the seam. It is super easy to make your cording out of the fabric you are using. Or you can use a contrasting color. Either way, it is a great finish for your cushions. Before I go on, I must give the credit for some of these instructions to a book that I followed. My Grammie gave me a series by SINGER, called the Singer Sewing Reference Library . The book I used was Sewing For the Home. This book contains general directions ...