The cushion cover part 2…

As a follow up to Hurray for crochet…I have now finished both sides of my crocheted cushion cover-yay!

But the reverse sides looked like this

I half heartedly tried to find out the proper way of finishing it-but the book I read said something about threading each end onto a needle and weaving it in, and that all sounded far too much like hard work, so I went with this option

I am sure this is very wrong. I will no doubt find out why when my cushion starts unravel, but it was quick and easy and seems ok for now! (Can anyone tell me what I should really have done, and why this is wrong if it is..?!)

So afterwards, it looked like this

I was left with this

But panic not dear reader, this has not been thrown away (perish the thought!)-I have a cunning plan for it, and will re-visit it just when you least expect it…

The next thing needed was a cushion pad of the right shape and size-hmmmmm….

Not being able to go out and buy a 34cm diameter round cushion pad-I decided to fashion one myself.

And just in case you should ever need to, here is how:

• measure the diameter of your finished pieces. Be pleasantly surprised if they are both about the same size (!) – min were 34cm (ish)
• find some old material/sheet type stuff (in hindsight, this is probably awful stuff to make a cushion pad from as I think all the feathers will poke through..), and drew a circle. This sounds easy, but it is actually really quite technical. Not having a plate big enough, or a giant’s compass, I had to make one myself, and I was very chuffed at my ingenuity (so you should be too)
• get some string and tie a pen to one end, as low down the pen as possible. Then measure 18cm (34cm diameter of cushion pad required+2cm seam allowance, then divided by 2 to get the radius-I told you it was technical…) and put a pin at this point
• then I fold the fabric in half, and stick the pin in somewhere near the middle, and use your homemade compass to draw a circle. I know! How clever is that..?!

• cut around the circles, pin together right sides facing, and sew around with a 1.5-2cm seam allowance, remembering to leave a gap for stuffing. Turn inside out (right way around)
• now, stuffing….What to use for stuffing? I did try and keep a bag of really tiny scraps and trimmings, which would have been perfect for this, but I think hubby must have found it at some point, and thrown it away recycled it (shocked gasps). So I ventured up in to the loft and found a slightly manky looking leaky cushion pad…

picked open a gap in one of the seams and proceeded to get feathers everywhere attempting to transfer them into my new pad…

Then slip stitch the opening shut pronto to avoid anymore feathers escaping. And you have made a customised cushion pad-yay!

Stay tuned for the next thrilling instalment, where you get to see the actual cushion cover, on the pad…