Third bit from the right

It’s been a while between posts but there’s been a lot of sewing going on through the cold winter months. In the last seven weeks I’ve made 9 cushion covers — six for me and another three for sisters of a friend.

So many ways to trim and finish a cushion cover

All the cushion covers I’d ever made have had zips across the back panel, not along a side edge — it’s just easier. This time round I played with a few methods:

• zip across the back panel, piping around the edges
• zip across the back panel, fringing around the edges
• three buttons across the front panel
• zip on one edge, no trim
• zip on one edge, piping around the edges (this was the most fiddly but also the most satisfying)

For my own six covers I used 50 x 50 cm and 50 x 30 cm inserts and made the covers 2 cm smaller, for a firm-ish fit. I added 2 cm seam allowances, rather than 1.5 cm, because you can get a lot of fraying with upholstery fabrics (though mostly it’s not that big a drama).

I’m not providing instructions here on how to make the covers. The internet, YouTube in particular, is your best friend. This is just a show-and-tell. My one new trick (picked up from a video) is so obvious I’m embarrassed to admit it had never crossed my mind: When you’re stitching a zip or piping with a zipper foot, change the needle position to either left or right (as required) to get the stitching even closer. Doh! I’ve never used the needle in anything other than the centre position.

Exhibit 1: brown cotton with piped edging

The brown fabric was a remnant and cost only $3 so no drama if I didn’t like the finished product. The photo gallery below includes the dimensions of the fabric pieces. (Click any photo to see a larger version.) I made the piping from 4 cm wide bias strips and a reel of piping cord. The only thing I’m not happy with is the position of the zip. Usually I’d place the zip further down from the top edge (say, 8–10 cm) but this one’s only 4 cm. I wouldn’t do that again, it looks wrong.

Exhibit 2: cream fabric with fringing

Again, this was a cheap remnant. Only $6 and I have enough left over to make another cover. Sewing on fringing is not too difficult and it instantly gives a cushion a touch more drama. The dimensions are the same as for the brown one, and my annoyance about the zip position is unchanged.

Exhibit 3: stripes and buttons

I made two covers from this fabric. The pattern calculations required a bit more mental agility because the facing for the two panels where the buttons and button holes go had to be 5 cm wide and the panels needed to overlap by 5 cm. I’m not happy with the buttons. They’re a perfect match for the fabric but I was looking for contrast. You’d think you could buy large attractive dark brown buttons in Melbourne for under $2 each but you can’t. I tried.

Exhibit 4: rectangular crimson velvet cover x 2

The crimson provides a strong contrast to the other three fabrics. There are no special edging effects but there’s a zip on the bottom that I’m quite happy with.

Exhibit 5: piping and zipper together

Adding piping and a zip along the same edge is tricky, which explains why I’d never tried it before. I googled for help with the technique and found a good three-part demo (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3) by Peg Baker. For this particular fabric it was also really important to get the pattern matching spot on.

Exhibit 6: covers for cushions with a curved back

I made two separate covers for two same-shaped cushion inserts. First I measured up the insert and drafted a pattern. The hardest bit was getting the curve right. I used a fabric remnant to make up a sample and then tweaked the pattern again. The zip runs around the curved edge at the back. The front corners have 6 cm vertical seams to create the box effect.