I’ve been going through my blog archives, tidying up images, old links and broken code. It occurred to me that I’ve got a lot of great tutorials buried deep in those old archives which you’ve probably never seen, so I’ve decided to occasionally republish the best of them.
This week I’m re-sharing the instructions for making a simple zippered cushion cover – I hope you find it useful.
Inserting zippers are usually quite frustrating for me, so I tend to avoid them where possible, but the technique I’ll be showing you today is fool proof.
You will need:
- Fabric/quilted panel for front and back of cover
- Zipper longer than the width of the cover
- Pillow insert
- Zipper foot
- General sewing supplies
How to:
- Gather your supplies.
- Attach your zipper foot.
- Cut your front panel to size (same size as your insert), as you can see the zipper is slightly longer.
- Cut your back panel to match the front (I have used wool blanketing).
- Align your open zip to the edge of the panel, right sides together, then sew as close to the teeth as possible with your zipper foot. Make sure the start and end of the zip overhang at the ends.
- When you are about a third of the way down, zip up the zipper to a closed position and continue to sew.
- This is how it should look.
- Align the front panel to the back one and pin into place, right side facing in.
- Sew zipper as per step 5 & 6
- Yay! Zipper inserted without any swearing.
- Now pin front and back together and stitch along the dotted lines.
- Take note of how the zip ends are pinned, this will ensure finished cover corners are neat where the zipper meets. Also make sure zipper is open about a third of the way to ensure you can turn inside out.
- Reinforce the seam over the zipper ends by reversing over it a few times, just being careful that the needle doesn’t hit the teeth as there may be a risk of breakage, especially with a metal zip. Cut off the excess ends and trim any bulky seams. Serge raw edges if desired.
Now turn your cover inside out and insert your pillow insert. Time to make a cup of tea and enjoy your handy work.
Original Post First published July 2012
