cushion tutorial

Well, this season has seen a couple of scheduling snafu’s! This time, I’m off… My project was scheduled for Monday, but I had some technical difficulties and wasn’t able to get it posted. It’s done and I can’t wait to share, but…. I’ll sneak it in ASAP! Sorry!

BUT ANYWAY… THe real star of the show today is my blogger friend Narelle from Cook, Clean Craft! She’s one of my original Sew Ready to Play guests and I love that she comes back each year! Have you seen her blog? It’s awesome! So much fun stuff for the kiddos. Clothes, toys and even yummy food! But I guess her name could have told you that, huh! She’s inspired a few sewing projects in this house and one of her recipes has become a staple. I think of her every time I make it. One day I want to meet this woman in person! Welcome, Narelle!!!

I’m so happy to be back for another year of Sew Ready to Play. But to start with, let’s get one thing straight.

I HATE Monopoly!

My older brother always wanted me to play Monopoly when we were kids. The games lasted forever, and he always beat me. I remember tears, fist fights and the game board getting flipped over many a time.

When my son took an interest in Monopoly, my heart filled with dread. It’s just about the last game in the world I want to play. My 6 year old son loves numbers and money, so he thinks it’s fantastic (he even spent his pocket money to buy a second game – with electronic banking – because he loves it so much!). I try to avoid playing as much as possible, but sometimes I have to – oh the joys of being a Mother!

Monopoly was the first thing that came to mind for Sew Ready to Play. I thought about clothes for my son, but wasn’t inspired. Then I had the idea to make floor cushions or stools to sit on at our “board game table”. The idea stuck in my head, and before you know it, here’s what I made:

They’re a sort of a stool, or a bean bag, or a really tall floor cushion.

The floor cushions have different properties on the bottom too, to mix things up a bit:

After having done some crazy cutting and machine applique in the past, this time around, I cheated and used my Brother Scan’N’Cut for cutting the letters, and Heat’n’Bond Ultrahold so I didn’t have to sew the letters in place. This will be a good test to see how it holds up to two small kids using the cushions.

I tried to take a photo of my kids using them while playing Monopoly, but it’s a dark room, and my kids won’t stay still, so this is the best I got:

Here’s the tutorial for how to sew monopoly floor cushions or stools – these instruction make 2 floor cushions.

Materials

2.5m (2.75 yards) black quilting cotton
1m (1.1 yards) pale green/spearmint quilting cotton
20cm (8”) strip of quilting cotton in red, pink, green and orange
30cm (12”) Heat’n’Bond Ultrahold
7m (7.7 yards) Black Bias Binding
7m (7.7 yards) Piping cord (Size 2)
Scissors, thread, sewing machine
Basting Spray (optional)
Brother Scan’n’Cut (optional)
Beanbag beans, pillows or polyfill to stuff (I’m not sure how much – I stole the beans out of a beanbag that I don’t like!)

Instructions

Cut a 30cm (12”) by 17cm (7”) strip from each of the colours for the top of the properties (red, green, pink and orange for these ones!).

Cut 4 pieces the light green fabric that are 50cm x 30cm (20” x 12”). This is the top and bottom of each floor cushion.

Spray some basting spray (optional) on the back of the coloured strip, and place on top of one of the light green pieces, lining up the top edge.

Sew a short zigzag stitch along the bottom of the coloured strip with black thread. I used a stitch length of 0.6 and width of 4.5.

Attach the Heat’n’Bond Ultrahold to the wrong side of a 30cm x 30cm (12” x 12”) piece of black quilter’s cotton, following the packet instructions.

Either trace your letters onto the backing paper, and cut out by hand, or use a Brother Scan’n’Cut to cut out the letters. I used the Brother Scan’n’Cut Canvas online app to create the lettering, using a standard font. I also selected the properties with the least number of letters! I had to add lines to an S to create the dollar sign.

My letters cut beautifully – here is what was left of my fabric:

Peel the backing paper off the letters, and arrange on the pale green fabric. Iron in place, following the directions on the Heat’n’Bond Ultrahold.

Repeat for the over 3 light green pieces to make 4 properties in total.

To make the piping, iron the bias binding flat (ie iron out the pre-made folds in it). Fold it in half and place the piping cord against the fold. With a long stitch length, sew the bias binding together close to the cord. Using a zipper foot can help get close to the piping cord.

Then you should have a long spaghetti of piping:

Pin the piping cord around the edge of the right side of the light green fabric, make a small curve at the corners. The raw edges of the base fabric and the cord should line up.

Where the two ends meet, unpick the basting stitches so you can see the cord.

Snip the piping cord so there is just enough to go around the outside of the base fabric. Fold over the raw edge of one end of the piping, and then fold that section over the top of the other raw end.

With a long basting stitch, sew the piping cord into place.

Cut 4 strips of black fabric that are 50cm (20”) x 76cm (30”). This is for the sides of the two cushions. Sew the 50cm (20”) edges of two pieces together to form a cylinder.