Christmas Pillows in Simple White and Gray

Posted on December 9, 2013 by jewelsathome

I’m not even going to try to hide that I’m crazy about Christmas. I love the warm festive atmosphere, the carols, the time with family.

Over the years, I mostly had the same decorations up each year. Last year, I tried a new color scheme of red, turquoise, and silver. This year, I want to do as much as I can in simple gray and white. I started with our new modern tree skirt, since that is a focal point.

Next, I wanted to make some cute Christmas throw pillows. The idea behind the pillows is simple. It’s all the different designs and fabrics that make them fun! The instructions for the basic pillow cover can be found in the post on our living room pillows. The instructions for making the appliqués can be found in this post from the onesie-decorating baby shower. Since I put some work into all these new pillows, I chose designs that would last beyond Christmas and through the winter.

Here are some of the decorations I put on my new winter pillow covers!

Reindeer pillows:

Polar bear pillows:

A snowy forest of trees on this pillows:

And here is our living room with the new pillows. There’s more I’d love to do, but I like how it’s coming together so far.

I’m also planning to make a throw blanket and some pillows out of a sweater. It could be a fiasco or an amazing project. If it’s the latter, you’ll see it here!

Are you feeling our snowy white Christmas theme?!

“Jewels”

Modern Gray and White Christmas Tree Skirt

Posted on December 2, 2013 by jewelsathome

For many years, I decorated for the holidays with the same traditional red and green Christmas color scheme. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course – traditions become traditions for good reason! But after more than a decade of the same style, I decided it would be fun to change up our Christmas look. Last year, I edited and updated our decorations for a red, turquoise, and silver Christmas. And this year, I’m in love with a simple gray and white Christmas color scheme. It makes me feel like I’m getting back to the tranquil snowy outdoors – even if I am in California!

Like last year, when I reinvented many of our decorations with silver paint and ribbons, I wanted to work with a lot of things I had, while adding a few new items. I’ve also been trying to keep my fabric and craft stash in check, so I pulled out all the gray and white fabrics I could find around the house and started to sew!

First up was a new Christmas tree skirt. I sewed our original tree skirt 18 years ago, when I was more fond of a cute and country look, and I took this year’s skirt in a complete different direction, making something very sleek and calming. I started with a grey faux suede upholstery fabric sitting in a corner. I had bought it to upholster our dining room chairs, and then I decided to make them more whimsical with a printed fabric.

Materials:

Grey faux suede fabric, 60″x60″
White cotton fabric to make a wide bias binding (I forgot to measure, but I estimate I used a little over a yard of 42″ wide cotton)
Narrower white bias binding

Instructions:

Cut a 60″ diameter circle from the main fabric
Cut a 6″ diameter hole from the center
Cut a straight line from the perimeter to the center

Tutorial for a simple gray and white Christmas tree skirt | Jewels at Home

The basic shape for the Christmas tree skirt.

Make 5″ wide bias binding from the trim fabric
Iron the binding in half to a make 2.5″ wide strip

Sew the binding to the two straight edges that makes the opening of the skirt, sewing on the back side of the main fabric with the raw edges lined up
Wrap the binding around to the front. Pin and sew to the front of the skirt
Add the binding to the outer edge of the skirt the same way, stretching the edges of the bias binding as you go.
Use the narrower binding to finish the inside circle

Sew the doubled bias binding to the underside of the skirt. Then, wrap the binding around to the front and sew in place.

That’s all! Here’s our new Christmas skirt!

Modern gray and white Christmas tree skirt.

I’ve got a few more white Christmas ideas coming up, and you can start your holiday shopping over at Zulily:

“Jewels”

DIY Decorated Notebooks

Posted on November 23, 2013 by jewelsathome

This project is part of my effort to spruce up my office and get more organized. I don’t know how organized it will make me, but these little notebooks sure are cute! The other project that I did was to cover plain file folders with scrapbook paper, and these look adorable also.

It seems like most workplaces generate a lot of scrap paper. From my first job out of college to my office today, I’ve usually been the one to collect the extra paper for reuse. At my first job, teaching at a small high school, I used the extra paper other teachers left in my cubby to shred for handmade paper, something I’d love to do more of again. These days, scrap paper from the office is the raw material for my three prolific little artists, as well as my own notes.

Even though we’re reusing old paper, it doesn’t have to look sloppy. I decided to make these notebooks to corral all of those loose papers. They’re great, because they can be decorated to create infinite customized looks, and it’s easy to add and remove pages.

Materials:

cardboard – I used old boxes and the heavy cardboard backing from calendars or pads of paper
fabric and Heat’n Bond Ultra Hold
OR scrapbook paper and Clear Contact Paper
0.5 inch binder rings or 1 inch binder rings
paper for pages. Ours are all scrap paper from the office.

Instructions:
Paper-covered notebooks

for each notebook, cut two pieces cardboard to 8.5″x11″
cut paper for the front and back to 8.5″ x 11″. I mixed scrapbook papers to make interesting designs
glue the paper onto the cardboard with a gluestick
Wrap the cover in Clear Contact Paper. As an optional step to make the inside of the cover more finished, I added white contact paper to the inside of the covers.
Punch holes on the left side
Use binder rings to hold the paper in place

Cute DIY covered notebooks. Jewels at Home

Wrap the notebook cover in clear contact paper to protect it.

Make your own customized DIY notebooks | Jewels at Home

As an optional step, I added white contact paper to finish the inside of the covers.

I rounded the edges of some of the covers to make the design more interesting. For these, cut small wedges to fold the contact paper neatly.

Fabric-covered notebooks

for each notebook, cut two pieces cardboard to 8.5″x11″
cut fabric rectangles about 12″x15″ for the front and back covers
Fuse Heat’n Bond Ultra Hold to the back side of the fabric, and then iron on to the cardboard
After cutting the corners, wrap and fuse the fabric to the inside of the covers.
As an optional step to make the inside of the cover more finished, I added coordinating paper to the inside of the covers.
Punch holes on the left side
Use binder rings to hold the paper in place

Make your own fabric-covered DIY notebooks | Jewels at Home

Adding coordinating fabric to the inside of the covers gives a more finished look.

Here are the notebooks I made for myself. I can’t wait to whip one out during a meeting!

Make your own customized DIY notebooks covered in scrapbook paper or fabric. A beautiful way to organize loose papers | Jewels at Home

It’s fun look to make the back and front of your notebook from different papers that work well together. I love this one!

These notebooks have rounded corners for added detail.

And here are the notebooks I made for the boys. They each chose their own covers – Superman for little J, art pencils for my budding artist L, and navy for big boy K. I wasn’t sure if the note books would catch on, but so far, the boys really seem to like keeping all their drawings organized in these! Yay!

The kids each chose the covers for their new notebooks.

L is really into art right now, which is so fun for me. I looped an elastic through the middle ring of his notebook, so he can keep his portfolio together. He has been bringing it to school every day!

Here’s what L is working on in his notebook. I love it!

More of L’s sketches, all neatly contained in his new notebook.

Yay for these little notebooks. They would make great gifts, too!

Some holiday projects coming up next!

“Jewels”

Superman and Batman Costumes

Posted on November 12, 2013 by jewelsathome

Here’s a quick summary of the recent Superhero-related posts:

Our preschooler is really into Superman. I mean really. As in, he walks up to random kids at the playground and says, “Hey, boy! I’m Superman!” which should be clear from the fact that he’s almost always wearing a Superman shirt. Sometimes, one of our homemade capes also. It’s actually very sweet to see the reactions he gets from strangers big and small.

So, it was pretty obvious what he was going to be for Halloween, and his brother completed the theme as Batman. These costumes served double duty at J’s superhero birthday.

When I was little, my mom always made our costumes, and she usually made them out of things that we could wear again. Even in this age of readily – available store-bought costumes, I’m used to doing things this way.

Superman

blue pajama set or shirt and pants
red fabric for cape and logo
yellow fabric for logo
Heat’n Bond Lite Iron-on Adhesive
Velcro for the cape closure
optional: black puffy paint

I actually made this Superman costume back when our oldest was three, so it has seen a lot of use, and it’s still going strong. It’s made from a set of plain blue pajamas, and I added the Superman logo and made a cape. This year, I added a yellow belt, too. The pajamas have gotten lots of wear, outside of Halloween, but they’re ready for saving the world a few more times.

To make the Superman logo, I used red fabric, yellow fabric, and some Heat’n Bond Lite Iron-on Adhesive.

I started by sketching a superman “S” onto the paper backing of the Heat ‘n Bond. Remember to do it backwards! If you don’t want to draw freehand, you can print out the logo and trace it onto the Heat ‘n Bond, using a lightbox or a window.

I then ironed the pattern onto the red fabric, and cut it out. (see below). I ironed the red “S” onto the yellow fabric, added Heat’n Bond, and ironed it onto the shirt. Finally, I finished the raw edges with stitching. on one version, I also outlined the design with some black puffy paint.

This is the finished Superman costume:

I also made extra shirts in a few colors to give us some variety, since J wants to dress like superman pretty much every day. I sewed this logo onto an older shirt, and I like the worn retro look it has.

Homemade Superman and Batman costumes for your little ones | Jewels at Home

Sweet vintage-looking Superman T made from a faded shirt.

The funniest is when he layers his hero shirts, like this day when he wore the Ninjago shirt I made for L’s Ninjago party under his red Superman shirt, so he could make a quick transformation whenever he needed.

He couldn’t decide whether to be Superman or a Ninjago today.

The cape is very simple, with a Velcro closure. I have more details on how to make the cape in this post about the party favors I made for J’s superhero birthday party.

Batman costume

Gray shirt and pants. We already had a shirt with the Batman logo, but you could make one using the same instructions as the Superman costume above.
Black satin fabric for the cape and hood
Black bias binding to finish the bottom of the cape
Velcro for the cape closure
Yellow fabric and Velcro for the belt
Black puffy paint to do the Batman logo on the belt
Heat’n Bond Ultra Hold Iron-On Adhesive-17″X10 Yards
black elastic for the mask

L already had a Batman shirt in gray,so I bought him a pair of matching plain gray sweatpants that he can wear again. I bought some black satin to sew a cape and the hood and mask and used yellow fabric I had to make the belt.

Satin is very slippery, so it was harder to sew than I planned, but with the help of a lot of pins, it turned out alright. I cut the cape using a similar pattern to the other superhero capes, but this one is wider and the bottom edge is scalloped like bat wings. I used bias binding to finish the curves on the bottom.

The first picture below shows the basic shape of the hood. It has a couple of darts (shown with arrows in the second picture) to shape it around the head. The ears are triangles filled with batting, and I hand – sewed them to the outside of the hood. I decided to make the mask separate, so that he could wear the hood more comfortably.

The belt is a simple strap with an oval in front for the bat symbol painted in black puffy paint. The closure at the back has elastic to make it snug and Velcro to fasten the ends. The mask is made with satin fused to felt with Heat’n Bond Ultra Hold Iron-On Adhesive and a black elastic strap.

And here is the finished Batman costume:

Here are our favorite heroes making appearances all about the neighborhood. We had a lot of fun!

You can definitely adapt these instructions to make any superhero, including ones you dream up yourself. Look at the variety of capes for J’s party”

“Jewels”

DIY Superhero Cape Party Favors

Posted on November 11, 2013 by jewelsathome

Here’s a quick summary of the recent Superhero-related posts:

For J’s recent superhero birthday party, I decided to make capes as party favors. I always try to make one bigger gift instead of goody bags with lots of small items.

The capes were very simple to make, though I will admit that making them for 10 kids took longer than I anticipated. It all worked out, though, and it was adorable to see all the little heroes running around our house and yard in their super capes! J and L wanted to be Superman and Batman, so I made them capes specifically for that, but the rest of the capes were a mix of fun colors and patterns.

You can make your own cape pattern that fits kids from about two to seven years old:

Materials:

For the body of the cape, I cut a piece of fabric that was 32″ long. It was 29″ in wide at bottom, tapering to 19″ wide at top, and I cut a curve for the neckline.
The neckline is finished with bias binding in a matching color to the body of the cape.
For the accent fabric, I cut a strip of fabric that was 5″ wide and 29″ long.
I used a short section (about 1 inch) of velcro for the top.

Instructions:

I ironed down a 1/2″ hem on both long sides of the accent fabric strip and sewed it to the body of the cape, near the bottom edge.
I finished the neckline of the cape with bias binding
I hemmed the bottom and sides of the cape
Finally, I added velcro to the top corners to close the cape.

I love the variety of each of these. I even made a little baby version for my “niece” C.

DIY Superhero capes for a birthday party! Jewels at Home

C’s baby cape is so cute!

Birthday boy, also known as Superman!

The kids have been wearing their capes all around our home and beyond.

Super baby!

You don’t have to make the capes yourself to have a fun costume party. I have found great costumes of all kinds at low prices on Zulily:

Have fun saving the world, little ones! Happy birthday, J!

“Jewels”

Elegant Ottoman Makeover

Posted on November 9, 2013 by jewelsathome

Okay, so I will admit that I had a very low starting point with these inexpensive storage cubes that I found on sale at Target. In their original colors, they’re so garish that it’s hard to imagine how anyone would have chosen to manufacture and sell them to begin with. I believe they were marketed towards the back-to-college dorm crowd, but I have more faith than that in the youth of today.

Not surprisingly, there were a large number of these fabric ottomans on clearance for $9.99 each at our local store. I had been looking for some storage cubes to serve as toy storage and double as seating in our family room. Even though the fluorescent colors were far from what I wanted, the size and functionality were perfect! Luckily, I had also just purchased a large remnant of beautiful ikat fabric to do projects in that room, and so this project was born!

I measured and cut fabric to cover the bases and lids of the cubes with extra allowance to fold under the edges. Because of the large-scale design, I was careful to match the pattern, so that the two cubes would work well together. Because of the very bright color of the original fabric on the cubes, I also cut out plain white fabric to go behind my print and hide the original color. For the base of the cubes, I sewed a tube that would slip over the cube (pictured below).

I wrapped the top edge of the fabric around the top of the cube, folded under a small hem, and used a staple gun to secure it to the frame on the inside of the cube. I started by placing a staple in the center of each side and then worked towards the corners. I then did the same to secure the bottom edge of the fabric to the bottom of the cube (pictured below) and to the lids of the cubes. It helps to trim fabric from the corners, so it doesn’t get too bulky.

And here they are, full of boys… I mean toys! Our family room seems to be constantly changing as the kids grow, but I’m happy with this bright and comfortable space for now.

“Jewels”

“Thankful Leaves” Fabric Garland for Thanksgiving

Posted on November 8, 2013 by jewelsathome

At Thanksgiving, I love the idea of creating a record of what we are thankful for, to help us reflect and to look back at over the years. I’ve seen this done on tablecloths or paper leaves hung on branches or strung in a garland. To make out garland more durable, I wanted to make it out of fabric.

Materials:

unbleached muslin and canvas
felt and fabric in fall colors
Heat’n Bond Ultra Hold
Sharpies or fabric markers

Instructions:

iron the Heat’n Bond to the felt or fabric and then iron on to the muslin or canvas, according to the instructions on the package. (left picture below)
make paper templates of a variety of leaf shapes. (right picture below)
trace the leaves with pencil onto the muslin and cut out.

Let each family member choose a leaf and write their message with Sharpie or fabric markers on the muslin.

Tutorial for Thanksgiving felt leaf garland with muslin backing to write what we're thankful for. {from Jewels at Home}

The boys writing on their “thankful leaves” to hang on the garland.

To hang the leaves, I used this sweet print that I bought on a birthday shopping spree. I didn’t even know what I would use it for when I bought it (don’t judge!), but it’s perfect for this project, with the orange-y red color and the tree silhouettes.

For each garland, I cut two strips of 4.25″ wide fabric and joined it into a long strip. I folded and ironed it in half length-wise, with the right sides facing. I used pins to mark every five inches where I would leave an opening to insert a leaf, with room for 15 leaves on each garland.

I sewed around the edge of the fabric, leaving a gap at each pin a 10″ opening in the center.

I then turned the hanging strip right side out, and slipped in the leaves. I sewed in the ones we had already written on, and I pinned the rest with safety pins, so we can take them down to write on before sewing into the garland in years to come.

Here are the garlands in our dining room, getting us in the mood for fall ,though the weather is decidedly warm! Together with the metallic painted pumpkins I created last year, the garlands are bringing the colors of the season into our home.

Wishing you a very Happy Thanksgiving! Hope you have as much to be thankful for as we do!

“Jewels”

Dreamy DIY Daybed

Posted on September 18, 2013 by jewelsathome

I have a serious thing for daybeds. There is something so primally cozy about curling up on a deep bed, surrounded by cushions.

Daybeds are practical, too. I have one in my craft studio, which is also our guest room. It’s a twin bed for our single guests, and there is a pop-up trundle below that can be combined with the main bed to make a king bed for couples and families.

When we added built-in closets to our master bedroom, they created a little alcove under the windows that was perfect for a window seat. Rather than a narrow bench, I decided to fill this space with a deep daybed, perfect for reading, napping, or lounging and taking in the view.

This space will also work out for those nights when a nightmare brings a little one into our room in the middle of the night… see, practical!

I considered building something myself, but I was nervous that that kind of project might never get done, with three kids running around. So, I did a lot of browsing and measuring to find ready-made materials that would fit together into an almost-built-in deep window seat and then added handmade touches with the pillows and storage boxes.

I found that three of these Closetmaid 3 Cube White Storage Benches filled the space almost end to end, leaving just enough room to access the electrical outlets on the walls at either end. The benches I bought are only 14″ deep, but I was able to add extra depth with some existing pieces boxes and shelves around the house, to create a luxurious 30″ deep daybed. To top it all off, I used two basic crib mattresses which fit perfectly across and provide great support. This Safety 1st Heavenly Dreams White Crib Mattress is reasonably priced and on the larger side (did you know crib mattresses were not a standard size?!), so it fills up the bench nicely.

Although I used benches out of a box and ready-made mattresses, this project has lots of handmade touches as well:

seat cushion cover
round bolster pillows and other decorative pillows – I used a variety of fabrics that capture the color scheme of the room – warm neutral gray with accents in red and turquoise.
fabric-covered storage boxes – JJ is potty-trained now, except for overnight, and these are overnight diaper boxes, that fit perfectly inside the cubbies, with just a half inch trimmed from the top. I have complete instructions for these and other storage boxes in another post.

I’m beyond happy with out new window seat and am looking forward to enjoying many quiet moments here.

“Jewels”

Pillows for Dressing a Daybed

Posted on September 5, 2013 by jewelsathome

I’m making a daybed window seat in our master bedroom, and it makes me so happy!! This is going to sound weird, but I think I like to look at it as much as I like to sit on it…

The whole seat just about done now, so I will get the final pictures up soon. So far, I have shared the bench cushions, and today, I’ll show you some of the special pillows I sewed to dress it up: round bolsters, flanged shams, and a ribbon-bordered pillow.

I’m not going to go into the basics of how to sew throw pillows, as you can find that in this old post.

Ribbon-bordered pillow

This was just a basic pillow, and I used to add ribbon the same way I did for our master bath curtains. This time, I did sew down the ribbon as well.

Round bolster pillows

Okay, I’m pretty proud of these. I was feeling intimidated by sewing the circles, but now that they are done, I’m so pleased! I made these round bolsters out of the same fabric, Robert Allen Souk in Dove, that I used for the bench seat. They sit on either end and really make the daybed feel finished.

The pilllow design is very simple, with just three pieces and some velcro. For each pillow that has a finished size of 24″x 8″ diameter, I cut a rectangle that is 25″ wide by 27″ long. I cut two circles that are 9″ in diameter (pictured below). I hemmed the short ends of the rectangle and finished all the other edges with a zig-zag stitch.

Pillows for dressing a daybed. Instructions for sewing round bolster pillows. Jewels at Home

Three simple pieces for sewing a round bolster pillow.

Next, I joined the two short ends of the rectangle, with one inch overlapping, to make a cylinder and pinned this in place. Then, I fitted a circle into the open end, with right sides facing. I used a lot of pins, to make sure that it fit evenly (pictured below).

Form a cylinder with the rectangular piece and fit a circle into the open end.

I sewed the circle into place by hand (pictured below). You could definitely try this by machine, but my fabric was quite stiff, and I thought I would just end up with a jagged circle and unpicking it 10 times. Repeat on the other end.

Stitch the circle onto the open end of the cylinder.

Last, I added Velcro to the long opening to hold the pillow closed (pictured below).

Add velcro for the pillow closure.

What’s inside my bolster pillows? You can purchase these forms, but I was able to construct some pillow forms from supplies I already had in the house. Yes, that’s right. While I may fantasize about being on HGTV, I think I have a better shot at getting on Hoarders. I used one thick piece of foam and two thinner strips for the core of the pillow, wrapped it all in batting and then stuffed it all in a simple tube sewn from scrap fabric (pictured below).

Making a pillow form for a round bolster pillow.

And here’s the finished bolster pillow. Something about conquering those circles is very satisfying!

Flanged pillow sham

I wanted pillows of different sizes on the daybed, so I beefed up some standard 20″x26″ pillows by sewing flanged covers.

For this project, you’ll need fabric, fusible interfacing, velcro, and thread.

I cut a large rectangle 29″ wide x 70″ long and hemmed the two short ends. I cut the fusible interfacing into 3″ strips and ironed the strips into place along the long sides of the rectangle and cut 6″ strips to sew, as show below, where the sides of the pillow will be.

Pillows for dressing a daybed. Instructions for sewing flanged pillow sham covers. Jewels at Home

Iron strips of interfacing onto the inside of the pillow cover.

I folded the rectangle as show below, so the hem overlaps on the back where the closure will be. I stitched along the top and bottom edges.

Fold the rectangle to make the pillow cover, and sew with the right sides together and the interfacing on the outside.

Then, turn the pillow cover right side out, iron, and sew around the pillow 2 1/2″ from the edge. I put a strip of painter’s tape on my machine to mark this distance (shown below).

Sew around the pillow cover on the outside, 2 1/2″ from the edge.

Ta-da! Pillow cover with edges that will stand up nice and crisp!

And here’s how the window seat is looking so far, with all the pillows and throws. I just need to finish the storage boxes to go below, and I’ll be done! This is one of the projects that got me so excited I could barely sleep, so it feels good to be almost done… I might need to catch up on sleep with a nap on this cozy daybed!

The blue pillow and knit throw tie into the art in the master bathroom. Ahhh….

Not much longer until I’ll show you the finished project with all the details!

“Jewels”

Window Seat Bench Cushion

Posted on September 3, 2013 by jewelsathome

I occasionally get obsessed with a project that I just can’t get out of my head. The window seat daybed in our master bedroom was definitely one of these! The daybed itself was easy to assemble from purchased benches and crib mattresses, but projects for this cozy alcove went on and on! One of the biggest was sewing the covers for the daybed mattresses. I love the Robert Allen Souk fabric in Dove, and I’ll show you how to make these covers yourself.

As a guideline, I used these instructions from Kate at the Centsational Girl blog to sew the covers. My dimensions are different, and I didn’t see how she did the back corners, so I’ll show all the steps here.

Supplies for covering two crib mattresses:

5 yards of 54″ wide fabric
Velcro – total of 104″ sew-on strips for both mattresses
thread, scissors, pins, general sewing supplies

Because the daybed is made from crib mattresses that are 52″ long, I was able to use the full width of a standard 54″ wide decorator fabric across the mattress. For each mattress, I cut a 70″ long x 54″ wide (full width) section of fabric and zig-zagged the raw edges of each piece.

I laid the fabric over the mattress and marked where the front seams would be. (Pictured below)

Instructions for sewing an cushion cover to make a daybed out of a crib mattress | Jewels at Home

Mark the fabric to where the front seams will be.

I then folded the fabric at the seam and sewed with a 3/8″ seam allowance to create a clean seam for the front edges of the cushion. (Pictured below)

Fold and sew to create the front seams.

Each mattress required two 6.5″x 32″ side panels, and I again zig-zagged the edges. These are longer than the width of the mattress, so they can wrap around the back to keep any of the mattress from showing.

To attach the side panels, line up the end of the side panels with the front of the main panel (between the seams) and sew that small section with a 1/2 inch seam allowance. (top left picture below)

Next, turn and pin the long edge of the side panels in place and sew with a 1/2 inch seam allowance. Since the side panels are longer than the mattress, I marked on the main panel where the back edge of the cushion should be and sewed up to that point. (top right picture below)

Adding the side panels to the cushion cover. Sew the front edge first and then the side seams.

After attaching all the side panels, I finished the ends of the panels by folding under a 1/2 inch hem and stitching. (Top left picture below)

For the back closure, I had one short flap and one long one, so the closure was along the edge of the cushion. While this looks very neat when finished, in retrospect, I would have centered the closure on the back, so I could flip the cushion over if it gets worn without any of the closure showing at the edge.

I sewed one side of the Velcro to the outside of the short flap and the other side to the inside of the long flap. (Top right picture below) It looks very neat when done!

Finishing the cushion cover. Finish the edges of the side panels, so they can wrap around the back of the cushion. Sew velcro to the inside of one back flap and the outside of the other. Ta-da!

I’m so happy with how these new cushion covers fit and look! A neat tip: to keep the cushions from moving around, I used a rug pad underneath.

We’ve already started hanging out on our new window seat already, and there are just a few more projects left to finish up this cozy alcove!

I’ve got more cushions planned, including round bolsters to finish off the ends of the bench. I’m looking forward to showing you the finishing touches soon!

“Jewels”