Floor Cushions

Hello everyone, I am so excited to share with you these cushions I made for the two little boys I take care of everyday. As soon as I saw Living With Punks post on the ones that she made I just knew that I had to make some for my boys. I had to do some modifications since I could not find any decor fabric for boys, everything was girlie. I also ended up changing up the handle just a bit on the second one which I will show. I hope you all run over and check out her site and get just as inspired as I am.

So to get started here are the supplies that were listed:

• 1 yard Home Dec Fabric
• 2 pkgs. 1/2 " pre made piping
• Contrasting Thread
• 16-24oz. Fiberfill, depending on how lofty you want it

Now because I ended up using just regular cotton fabric there are a couple more supplies to make it hold up which are:

• Quilting batting 
• 2 yards medium weight interfacing 

I cut out my pieces: 

 2 of the 17" circles (top and bottom)

1 piece cut at 9"x51.5" (side)

you will have to piece this together if your fabric is 45"

2 pieces cut at 3" x 12" (handle)

Then I ironed on my interfacing onto each piece of material in the first step to making it a firmer fabric. Next I cut the quilting batting to fit each piece and pined to the wrong side. I used the hand quilted stitch on my sewing machine and just followed the lines on the material to give it the quilted look and feel. I did this with each piece except for one of the handle pieces, I only ironed the interfacing on it and since it was going to be the one against the cushion I didn't worry about the quilting on it either. 

After these two steps I was very happy with the weight of of fabric and felt like it would hold up well to abuse. Now we are ready to starting putting it together. First pin your  bias tape directly on to one of the circles, making sure to line up raw edges. When you get to the end, overlap pieces and bend them at an angle.Using the contrasting thread you chose, stitch right on top of the stitching that is on your pre-made piping (man does this make things so much easier).  The contrasting 


thread does need to be easily seen on the wrong side of your fabric so that when you go to put it all together you can just follow it as a sewing guide.   

 Sew both circles  and the quilted handle piece this way. Place the other handle piece on top of the quilted one right sides facing each other,  using your previous stitching as a guide (this is where the contrasting thread comes in handy), stitch the two pieces together. This is were I varied from her instructions again. I put the pipping on the ends also and stitched everything together expect for a small hole big enough to turn the handle inside out. Then I slipped stitched it closed. I really like the clean finished look it gives it. 

This is what we have so far, I didn't do the handle with all edges done till the making the second cushion. Here again I make a slight change, I went ahead and added the handle onto the large strip of material. I measured the width and centered it then sewed a large box using a double stitch and added the x to make it sturdier as her instructions were. I found it easier to had the handle now rather then after the two pieces are put together.  Our next step is to take your large side piece and pin it carefully to one of the circles,right sides together and matching raw edges. Make sure to leave about 1" free on the end.  Do not pull too hard, and make sure to compensate for the curve of the circle, if you using the interfacing and quit batting it will be a bit stiffer but goes on the same way. 




Pin all the way around until you come to the other end. Time to stitch them together using that contrasting thread just sew right on top of the line made from sewing the pipping on. Almost there, now we add our other circle to the other end, pin and sew again. This time leaving a hole large enough to  turn it inside out and stuff. 

 Once it is stuff then slip stitch it closed. Now if you are going tuft it with a button then you will do that before you close the opening but after you have stuffed it. I have to say this is was the first time I had done this and I don't think the way that I did it was the "right" way because well I stabbed myself several times in the process. I suggest doing to searches on the net since the only way I can share with you draws blood!!!!!!! LOL. 

Thank you for stopping by and please let me know if you have any questions, also don't forget to check out Living with Punks for her post on these awesome cushions. She has some more detailed pictures as I get so involved I forget to take one for each step sometimes :)