Reading Cushion!
...a Reading Cushion!
Hello readers!
Hope everyone's had a great week since last Wednesday, despite the awful weather. I've finally finished my big block of night shifts so I've actually got some time to do a bit of sewing this week! Aiming to do some posts in advance (read as: I probably won't and will do what I always do...)!
Since all the children are (finally) starting to go back to school, we're going with a back to school theme for the next couple of weeks. This week's project is a reading cushion, complete with book pocket on the front. I made mine with my friend's son in mind as he loves all things Marvel and DC Universe, so what better than to use some of our newer comic fabric patterned with Batman!
For this project you will need one or two fabrics of your choice. If you use one, you'll need 1m altogether, if you use two, half a metre of each will be perfect! You will also need a zip to match the size of your cushion - I did 40x40cm - and some fusible wadding. An additional feature you can add is a handle for easy carrying, so for this, I used a 40mm herringbone cotton tape, 0.25m is plenty.
First cut out the pieces. I decided to have the outside pocket in pattern and inside in plain, the front of the main cushion in plain and the back also patterned. So to do this you'd need:
- 1 of 45x45cm patterned fabric piece
- 1 of 30x45cm patterned fabric piece
- 1 of 45x45cm plain piece
- 1 of 30x45cm plain piece
- 1 of 30x45cm wadding piece
Hopefully that makes sense! If not it should do when you read on!
I started off by making the pocket, take all the 30x45cm pieces including the wadding. I use fusible because it's so much easier! So using the manufacturers instructions, attach the wadding to the patterned piece.
Then sew as you normally would, right sides together leaving the bottom open so you can turn it right way round. This also ensures it's not too thick to sew on to the zip.
Next to secure the zip. Put the 45x45cm fabric pieces right sides together around the pocket piece. So in my case, I had the plain side of the pocket facing the plain piece of 45x45cm and the patterned piece facing the patterned piece of the pocket (again, I know it's a bit confusing!).
Starting with the back piece (the side without the pocket), put the right side of the zip facing the right side of the fabric, along the bottom, raw edge and sew all the way along.
Then the for the front piece, including the pocket, place the right side of the zip tape along right side of the raw edge of both the pocket and plain piece of fabric. The square pieces of fabric should 'sandwich' the pocket piece.
Once the zip is secured on both sides, it should look like this when folded out.
To add the handle, fold the pieces back to being right sides together. At the opposite end to the zip, fold the handle in two places so it sits flat and pin in between the fabric pieces, like the image below.
Then seam all the way around the edge - make sure you leave the zip slightly undone so you can turn it the right way round afterwards! Clip the corners, turn it out and thats it done!
We sell polyester cushion pads at the shop and online, so no need to go searching around the house for one! Pop it in and you're ready for the reading homework that's on its way!
I was so surprised at how quickly this all came together, and it's so simple, you could even get your children involved in the process too! Altogether I think it was 45 minutes? Something to de-stress with after school?
I hope that all of you with children have a relatively seamless return to school regardless of the age! See you next week!
