DIY Adventures for Beginners
'This series will feature two novices trying to create different DIY projects with no prior skill or talent relating to sewing or sewing machines.'
We’ve noted all the ups and downs that we faced, along with the tools we’ve used.
DIY Cushion cover!
The Things You Need:
- Thread (for the machine)
- Cushion
The Process:
- The first step is to measure the cushion (any cushion size will do) that you're going to use in order to know how much fabric you will need. While measuring, we added an inch allowance for the hem line. [We completely forgot to do this step! It made it difficult for us to adjust the cushion cover later on! Here's a tip for you; ‘MEASURE EVERYTHING’].
- Using the measurements we have just taken; we need to fold the fabric in half and cut accordingly.
- Then turned it the 'wrong side up' (this means turn it around so we have the side which will be inside the cushion; in sewing terms it's referred to as wrong side up) & if needed pin the halves of the fabric together so it is easier to stitch them.
- Now we need to use the sewing machine; We used the Juki HZL-29Z. ]Since it was a brand new machine, we had to thread it as well. Lucky for us, this machine had numbers from 1-5 which was an easy guide to follow for first time users!
- The self-threader for the needle was a useful tool, it did however, take us a few tries to completely figure it out [Make sure you fully understand how it works so you don't end up poking yourself with the needle. I managed to poke myself 3 times before I realized how the self-threaded works (tip: ‘read the manual to understand how to use it!’)]
- The Bobbin was easy to thread as well, we didn't have any problems there thankfully!
We now move on to the stitching!
- We used the 'Straight Stitch' to close 3 or the four sides of our cushion cover (Wrong side up)
- this machine was easy to use, the foot pedal was useful to control the speed and also quite easy to keep the fabric straight as long as we didn't speed up too much
- We then proceeded to turn the fabric inside out through the 4th open side. We were pleasantly surprised at how well it worked out since it was our first time using this machine
- Next step is to insert the pillow in the cushion to make sure it fits correctly, if not you can always turn it inside out again cut the difference and stitch it again (its what we did!)
- To attach the buttons we used the 4-step stitch method from the machine. Measure the length of the button using a pen or a chalk. Once we measured that we used the 'button sewing pressure foot' that came with the machine. Moving on, once we had the button hole made, we used a seam ripper to open it up. (Quick tip: attach a pin where you want the button to end when using a seam ripper so you don't end up ripping more fabric than you intended).
- Finally attach the buttons either use the sewing machine or just manually use a thread and needle.
- Button up the last bit and there you have it!
Final Thoughts:
This project was easier than we expected it to be which was surprising since this was the first time we had used any kind of sewing machine!
Have any suggestions of what we should review next?
Let us know in the comments below what you thought!
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