My mum has these lovely Christmas cushions, but no-one needs Christmas all year so she asked for some alternative covers to use so that they could still be in use. I’ve made quite a few cushion covers over time- some with zips, some with buttonholes, some with snaps and some with lots of embroidery. For these I chose an upholstery weight cotton and some cream zips.
The key to having a nice plump cushion is to have a cover which is slightly smaller than the cushion pad dimensions. It means it is a bit of a squish to put the cushions in their covers though!
For these cushions I decided to make a bit of a feature of the zips on the back and have them exposed right across the middle. My zips weren’t quite the right length though so I added fabric tabs to the ends (this tutorial here is helpful) which actually makes it easier to sew the whole cushion together because the zip stops well before the side seam.
The pattern continues across the zip because I cut the back as one piece, then cut it in half to install the zip. If you are doing something similar, make sure that the zip is going to be long enough because you don’t want to have to wrestle the cushion pad in with a zip that is too short!
Though they are pretty simple, I’m pleased with how these cushions have turned out. It’s always nice to make what someone actually wants, and a few straight lines of sewing is a nice break sometimes. Especially as I only seem to sew in very short bursts at the moment, it’s nice not needing a whole load of instructions to work out where I had got to!
Naomi Sews 