A Bench Cushion for the Craft Room

Deep into winter is a good time to get those projects done that you have been putting off since autumn.  When you can't go out due to ice and slippery, snow-covered streets, why not sit in your craft room snug and warm and sew?

I first had to cut the foam down to size with an electric knife. Sorry, no photos!  I couldn't cut and hold the camera.  I also used an old electric knife and it started to overheat right away trying to cut through the 4 inch foam.  The cushion was 21 inches wide and 72 inches long.

Then, I needed to find some white piping since I didn't have enough fabric to make bias strips from the decorator fabric.  Not finding what I really wanted on Amazon.com, I bought some wide bias twill tape at JoAnn's.  It was too thin.  I rummaged through my decorator fabrics and linings and found some white twill fabric that I could cut in 5 inch strips.  I used 12/32 inch cording (12 yards).
One package made enough piping for the top and another for the bottom.  I did not cut my fabric strips on the bias.  It had enough give to go around corners easily.

The next problem was finding a presser foot that would work on this project and my new machine.
After much rummaging though my sewing machine desk drawers, I  found a zipper presser foot that came with my machinge and borrowed a 1/4 inch quilting foot from a friend (it should have been in my accessories tin, but it was missing).  Here's a sample of folding the fabric strip over the cording.

And here's the zipper presser foot with the fabric and cording pushed up to the left side 

so the cording will be tight in the fabric casing. 

You then sew the piping along the cut edge all around the top sides both lengths and widths.

As you come to corners, you can clip the piping casing and keep the piping 

pulled back and upright to keep it from being caught by the needle.

Keep the presser foot up close to the cording in the casing as you sew around the corner.

When you get back to where you started, mark the place where the two cords meet. Cut the cords with the casing of one side pulled back.  Then turn under the ends and overlap the casing over the other side. Sew the seam. It would have been better to trim back the top one and overlap it since the presser foot was coming down from the top.  I was able to keep it flat, but it would have been "going with the flow" to have the overlap of the top part instead of the bottom.

That's enough for one day!

Tomorrow we will sew the sides together and onto the top piece with the cording in place.

New Location for Designs by Didi Blog

Well, I've given up my old blog address and decided to go with the flow of Google +.  This means I can now post to my garden blog or my craft blog from my phone and my new Surface tablet from one sign in.  It should be easier all around for me, but I really dislike leaving all my former creations behind at Yahoo.

Still, it 's a new year--and a new way of doing things!

Here goes my first post--Valentine cards.

Start with a long card base cut from 

8.5 X 11 inch card stock.

I used white, but light pink would also work nicely.

Use an A2 card front size to insert into embossing folders.

I used Cuttlebug Script and Swiss Dots folders.

A card front size is actually half of a long card base shown above.

Sorry the folders are upside down!  I did edit these photos...

Once the card front is embossed, use a border punch to 

add some texture and dimension to the card base.

This punch is EK Scallop Diamond.

Attach a strip of patterned paper at the base of the front of the card with a Scotch dot roller.

Then attach the embossed and border punched card front to the card base with Scor-tape.

The patterned paper should show under the border.

Sorry again that this photo is sideways!

I punched out lots of hearts with the Marvy Heart Punch.

The hearts are on the large size, 1 5/8 inch across.

I used solids and patterns.

I also embossed half of the solids with the Cuttlebug

Divine Swirl folder in the Big Shot, three hearts at a time.

I folded the hearts in half with a bone.

The embossed ones tear easily in the center, but they will be glued down later.

Turning the hearts upside down, I used Tombow Mono liquid glue to attach some twine to the back.

This is colored butcher twine from The Twinery in lilac, pink sorbet and maraschino.

While the liquid glue is still sticky, turn the hearts over and arrange them on the card front.

Make sure the strings hang down free and that the sides of the hearts are free to pop up.

When the glue has dried a bit, take the strings together and form an overhand knot to keep the 

"heart  balloons" together in a clump.  Anchor the knot with another dab of glue.

Notice that I added some lace and assorted self-stick ribbon above the punched border 

to these before adding the heart balloons.

The sentiment is a banner made with Stampin' Up Itty Bitty Banners stamp and die cut set.

I added a single pearl heart on the banner also.  It is popped with some foam dimensional adhesives.

The variety of colors and backgrounds and embellishments made these Valentine cards 

are real splash of color on a snowy February day.

And this was a much easier post to make also!

Old Designs by Didi available at

http://designsbydidi.blogspot.com

I've been on that blog since 2012.

Inspiration card on Pinterest

from Etsy by imeondesign