Sunday, August 5, 2012

Couch Fixin'

I was finally able to sew something from start to finish, without the baby yelling at me (too much).

Problem: The cushion on the couch/futon slides down when you sit on it, and after a while it's half way down the frame.

Problem - Cushion falls down

Other problem: The bottom of the cushion is then half way off the end, leading to baby and puppy tumbles.

Other Problem - bottom fall down too

Goal: Put ties or straps on the top to attach it to the back, like this.

Goal - I want it to look like that

Fabric: Chris generously donated a t-shirt for the cause.

Chris generously donates his old T-Shirt to the fabric stash

Step 1: Cut it up

Cut

Cut 8 3"x13" strips

I decided I needed 4 sets of traps. I cut 8 strips each about 3" x 13".

Step 2: Sew each strap in half to make a tube.

Figure out how to use your sewing machine

Sew strip into tube (inside out)

Step 3: Cut yourself on the needle and bleed on the fabric (optional).

Oops. Don't cut yourself.

Step 4: Turn tube right-side out.

I tried a few ways of doing this.
First I sewed up the side and then across one end, folding it and "hemming" it. I pushed the end through the tube and turned it rightside out just by pushing. This was difficult but worked in the end.

Tried hemming one end, meh.

Turn Tube Right-Side Out

Then I tried sewing down the side and just across the end without hemming. I still had issues turning it right-side out.

Then I tried sewing across and THEN down one side, leaving long thread tails on the corner. If I left a very small hole where I started (by NOT doing a reinforcement stitch backwards), I could fit a tapestry needle through the whole and putt the tails inside and through the tube. Grab the needle and threads and pull. Much easier to turn right-side out.

Use threads to turn right-side out

Thread tails back through tube and out the other side

Step 5: Measure, pin, and sew straps to mattress cover.

Tip: Measure the couch frame, not the cover. Because I wasn't sure where the edges of the cover fell when on the mattress, and because the edges were curved, I measured from the center of the futon frame and then from the center of mattress cover.

Attach to Mattress Cover

Attach to mattress cover

I reinforced the strap with diagonal stitches and double zig-zags on the ends.

Criss-Cross stitches for support

Step 6: Put cover back on mattress and tie off.

Tie around top of futon

Tie around top of futon bas

Looks Good!



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