Porch Sofa -- LARGE cushions

After sewing the three small cushions for the porch sofa -- I was kinda burned out.

And, too -- it's summertime, I'm doing a lot of things with Lilly and Warren, and moving on to the three BIG cushions seemed like a really big job.

So, there was a fair bit of procrastination going on. THEN I had two funerals in one week...and it was time for me to GET BACK TO THE SOFA.

That's how it works for me.  When I am happy, I sew.  When I am sad, I sew.  As it turns out -- it can be serger dishrags -- or it can be a porch sofa....that's how I roll...

However -- I was running low on fabric. So, when I started on the three big cushions, I laid out little bits of fabric to plan the design before I actually cut anything. There were three main fabrics, so I decided the best solution would be to do two sides yellow, two sides squiggle dot, and two sides big circles...This would give me the MOST OPTIONS -- right??

Cushion #1 has a yellow side --

The other side of Cushion #1 is the big circles fabric...get it??

Cushion #2 has one side of squiggly dots -- except I didn't have enough fabric...

So, I did the best I could to match the pattern to add the 2" I needed...

Cushion #3 would have had one side of squiggle dots...but I only had a small piece left...so I did a patchwork design...

The biggest lesson of sewing these cushions was that I made the pattern first -- then went SLOW...fitting each cushion as I went.  Here's the general order of things...

1. First, I did the zipper/cheat...ironing the zebra fabric on top of the old flower fabric. 
2. Then I made a pattern and cut out the top piece. 
3. I marked the center point on all four sides, and basted the top to the zebra side panel, right sides together. 
4. At that point, the "fitting"on the cushion was critical. It is always better to start a little too big, then snug it up...or trim it down as required. (ask me how I know this)
5. Each seam was sewn three times. First, a basting stitch (so I could do the fitting) -- the second round was with my serger to clean up the edges. And, finally, I did a three step straight stitch to make it as strong as possible...

Then, to do the flip side, repeat steps 3-5. This is the point where you will really be glad you marked the center point on all four sides...

NEXT MONDAY -- I will do the official "REVEAL". Finally -- it all came together....

And we really did have a HELLUVA PORCH PARTY...!!