Cushion Success!

Well, it all worked out in the end - better than I expected!

I added a couple of extra rounds to the back (daisy) side, and then I blocked both cushions.


So now I'm a blocking convert - it makes such a difference!


I also did this amazing concept called... wait for it... counting stitches. I know! Crazy, huh?, but it just might work!

It turned out that my squares were now almost identical in stitches - one side was about 4 stitches smaller than the other.


So, taking the advice from some of my lovely comments, I just made sure that as I went along, I did a stitch that sort of squished two crochet stitches from one side into one stitch from the other side. It looked like it was going to be noticeable, but just two little stitches stitched into one didn't show up in the end. I made sure that it was done about 4 times for each side, and that I kept these spaced apart, fairly evenly, across the side.

I hope this is what Jacquie from Bunny Mummy meant by:
"join the two halves by putting them right sides together and over sewing in outer loops only"!?

Then when I reached the end of the side, the stitches lined up and I could sew to the corner with ease. Whoo Hoo!

Something else wonderful happened through all this blocking and extra-round-ing - the cover got bigger! So much bigger, in fact, that I thought it might, just might, make it around this cushion that came with a blue cover.

A little hard to judge at this stage!

This cushion (cover + insert) was $7 at Big W. And a white insert, same size? $5. Silly, hey?

(Also silly - who's making crochet cushion covers when she could just buy a perfectly fine cushion and cover for $7?? ;-) Hmmm.....)

This cushion is 40cm x 40cm - a standard size that I thought I wouldn't be able to cover... before blocking and adding those extra rounds. But now... it was going to be snug but it just might work! And with the blue cover - much nicer than a white filling thing.

(I know I could always sew my own covers, to any size I liked, but I really, REALLY dislike sewing. I have a sewing machine, up in the cupboard, I know how to sew, but I will avoid it whenever possible - including with this cushion!)

ANYWAY... I sewed it up... I used Bunny Mummy's button closure method... I didn't have enough buttons so my opening is pretty small... and I had a moment of panic because I thought NO WAY is that cushion going to fit through that opening!

Then I decided I would MAKE IT FIT! So I squished and pushed and squashed and punched and shoved... and ...

I got it in! Sewed on the buttons (yes, I only did that at this moment!), and ...


It was done!

YAY!



Voila! I think we can call this: Cushion Success!

That said, I doubt I will be doing another cushion any time soon! It all took a lot longer than I thought, a lot more yarn than I thought, and a lot of fiddly-sewing drama which is SOOOO not to my liking!

Back to blankets, methinks!

And a few other projects I've been dabbling with...

Will share it all as soon as I can.

By the way, I haven't forgotten about that bunting pattern. It's going well, I've been taking photos and all... just haven't gotten it all finalised yet. That pesky Paid Work is getting in the way big time at the moment - this is one of the busiest times of the year for me. :-(

And when that's all out of the way, I will be able to blog a lot more. Looking forward to that. :-)

See you all soon, I hope,
Caz :)