Made It - Projects Big And Small

Hello! I tend to sew small projects - Christmas ornaments, baby toys, and the like. I really need to be motivated to sew something larger! But this week my motivation came in the form of our couch, which, while still functional, had badly-worn cushions and frayed arms. We thought it was a good brand, but it's almost 14 years old - maybe that's normal wear? 

I searched online for slipcovers, and they're affordable - unless you have a sleeper sofa, which we do; then the prices go up quite a bit, and I didn't care for the styles and limited color choices I saw either. 

Meanwhile, a thrift store had come through with a pattern for making slipcovers.  The pattern was $11.95 new, but I paid only 50c for it - can't beat those savings!

The fabric I purchased was quite affordable as well; it was a third of the price I would have paid for a sleeper sofa slipcover. The sewing wasn't hard, but as I had ten yards of fabric to deal with, there were some long seams and a even longer hem to sew. And my sewing machine pedal was acting up, so it was slower going than it should have been. I was not a happy camper by the end of the day. Sewing has a tendency to make me crabby - I'll admit it. 

Still, I kept at it, and finally added the finishing touch today, the ties. Here is how it turned out:

Not too bad for a first effort in slipcovering, I guess. Would I do it again? Maybe. At least I now know how to do it, and I did save a fair amount of money as well. The sofa no longer looks as if it is inhabited by hillbillies, and the bonus of being machine-washable is nice too!

Here is a close-up of the fabric pattern:

It's actually more a blue-gray than what it looks like here, and have a subtle leaf pattern.


Now, of course, at some point I'll have to cover the pillows that had come with the sofa - I think I'll wait a bit on that!


As if that wasn't enough sewing fun, before I made the slipcover I sewed a much smaller project:

I had found the sailboat print fabric at a thrift store and knew right away that it'd be fun to craft a sailboat ornament with it. I didn't have a sailboat pattern on hand, but kept my eyes open. Lo and behold, several weeks later, at the same thrift store, I found an older craft book of baby projects. A sailboat pattern was shown for appliquing onto  baby's shirt, and it was already sized perfectly for me to adapt to an ornament instead. 


Besides the fabrics, I used a bit of felt, a small red pom-pom, a dowel I'd painted white, and some gold cord for hanging. Needless to say, this went together MUCH quicker than the slipcover! 


A friend of mine and her family own a sailboat, so I gave the ornament to her today and she seemed to like it. As I told her, with its red, white and blue color scheme, it could even be used as a summertime decoration, so it wouldn't have to be just be used at Christmastime. I don't have a sailboat, but I'm thinking of making some for me to display this summer - if I can force myself back to my sewing machine!