What took me so long?

Juggling midday naps and frequent trips to the toilet means that not a lot has been happening on the crafting (or the house cleaning!) side of life.  But finally, I have managed to finish off a couple of reading cushion covers for Little Miss M.  Thanks to N for the inspiration!

A few notes about these cushion covers.

1.)  I don't know why it took me so long to get these together.  Cutting and piecing the panels took the longest.  Sewing was a half-an-hour to an-hour to do.

2.)  These are two different types of cushion covers.  One has a zip at the bottom.  Instructions are courtesy of this tutorial.  The other has overlapping flaps at the back.  Instructions were nought.  Success (as in "not bad, fits well; but are the flaps upside down?") was a fluke.  As long as the cushions are soft enough to stuff into the cover, then I have no preference on which is better.  They are both easily removable to wash.

3.)  The paneling was done differently.  One cover was two pieces joined together to make one piece (picture on the right).  The other was a full under-piece with a panel sewn on top (picture on the left).  With the two pieces joined together, even though I interfaced them, the seam allowance is still (very minimally) visible.  On a different type of fabric, this might make a difference.

4.)  I used interfacing, on both the two pieces joined as well as the panel sewn on top to minimise the appearance of the seam allowance through the fabric.  Interfacing is only attached up to the seam allowance.

5.)  I cut the corners to minimise the bulk and to give nice pointy corners.

6.)  Depending on the fabric that you use, it's not necessarily cheaper to sew up your own cushion covers.  But I have enough fabric scraps to sew up a couple of mini cushions for Little Miss M's dolls.  And having Little Miss M proclaim to all, with a big smile, that "Mama's making me cushion covers" is priceless.

So here they are in action...

 

That's Creative Commitment Sewing number 1 (and 2, if I don't finish this bag that's waiting for the final touches) for November 2010.