My mission should I choose to accept it–make new covers for the camper cushions. Da na naaaa Da na naaa! BOM BOM! bom bom BOM BOM!
Sewing is something learned to do WAY back in junior high. I fancied myself a fashion expert–since I was on the cutting edge in my jelly shoes and tuxedo shirts. Sewing became a way for me to copy the latest trends and add my own flair (Molly Ringwald in “Pretty in Pink” and “Sixteen Candles” was my HERO).
But, I learned– very quickly– an important something about myself. I like to sew for economical purposes only–as in sewing things for myself so I don’t have to spend the big bucks in purchasing the expensive ready made ones.
But, I am grateful for the skill of sewing. I’m able to make a lot of things for our home– curtains, bedding, and decorative pillows–and now–new covers for the cushions in our camper.
These are the cushion covers that came with the camper:
My oldest son, Morgan, LOVES them. My youngest couldn’t care less. Super Rockstar is kind of…meh. I HATE them. They are old, musty, and ugly and must be destroyed. BUT they can be used as patterns to make new ones.
Thankfully, the foam is in pretty good condition. I sprayed them–maybe a little too liberally with febreeze (it’s been a month and they still smell VERY strongly of “fresh mountain breeze” scent) (This is not what mountains really smell like) (It’s better than moldy odor).
Step #1: Choose Fabrics. Here’s what I came up with– a dark brown faux leather for one side and a large black and red buffalo check for the other (the red/black check is actually two full size sheet sets so there was some dismantling of the the fitted sheets involved too).
Step #2: Use old, musty, and ugly covers as a pattern for cutting out the new covers.
Step #3: Remove zippers from old, musty, and ugly covers so they can be put on the new ones.
Step #4: Make piping out of the faux leather and stitch it onto one of the fabrics (I decided to sew it on the faux leather side).
Step #5: Sew the zippers in place–attaching the two sides together.
Step #6: Sew the rest of the sides together.
Step #7: Remove the zippers from the new covers because they look terrible–I stink at putting zippers on.
Step #8: Have Super Rockstar help me put the new covers on the foam–because I need to make sure that they’re going to fit. By stretching, pulling, and ripping seams out as we tried to shove them in, I realized I had cut them a tiny bit too small. This is when Super Rockstar came up with the idea to put them over his head while I pulled down. (it was a little suffocating) (I only had to administer CPR once–so I’d say that was a pretty good plan overall)
Step #9: Light bulb moment–the covers were tight because the red/black check fabric is flannel. When you try to shove a foam mattress into flannel it never goes well (long story short–the flannel is stretchy, the foam is not. It gets stuck) SO, I realized I need to add a lining layer to that side of the cushion covers.
Step #10: Another light bulb moment–VELCRO instead of zippers. Brilliant!
Step #11: Put covers back on cushions–still not an easy process–but MUCH smoother. I’m even able to do it by myself so Super Rockstar doesn’t have to wear them like an outfit.
VOILA! The finished product!
I am LOVING our cabin on wheels! We even gave the new cushions a “test drive” and had a family sleep over in the camper in our garage.
The boys LOVED it. Super Rockstar and I decided there were a couple more things we need to add.
#1: Curtains. The windows don’t offer much privacy at night.
#2: A long cushion next to our bed. There is a bench area right next to the bed we will be sleeping in. By adding a cushion it will be a nice comfy place to sit AND, more importantly, give us another 12”width to our rather small bed.
We’ve been sleeping in a king size bed the past couple of years–going down to a glorified twin size is a bit of a tight fit for us. We like to snuggle as much as the next couple, but snuggling quickly turns claustrophobic in the confines of a small enclosed space on a tiny surface. I want our camping experiences to be as enjoyable as possible and not turn into world war 3 over fighting for sleeping space.
Seeing as I’ve never made a cushion from scratch before–this should be a fun adventure. I’ll let you know how it goes….