Help! Total novice making sofa cushion covers!

[TressiliansStone]

I have an elderly sewing machine but my expertise doesn't stretch much past hemming table cloths and making a stuffed teddy at school. I'm also about as dextrous as a walrus in boxing gloves.

No zips will be involved: I'm thinking of making flaps and, where necessary, stick-on velcro.

I have an idea I should be making patterns in brown paper, using the existing covers, and using these to cut out my fabric?

Do I then leave the paper pinned on and sew through it? Or... what?

Those things I'll later wish I known before I started? Hit me with them now, please please please!

Do I then leave the paper pinned on and sew through it? Or... what?

I would draw round the paper pattern adding in a seam allowance.

Do you plan for them to be washable? If so, wash the fabric first in case it shrinks.

Link to a written tutorial here:
www.housebythebaydesign.com/sew-perfect-fit-box-cushion-covers/

She uses a zip closure - that bit isn't too tricky and is worth doing.

OK, that's definitely convinced me to avoid zips, but was very useful in making me think through the boxing.

(I get tired extremely quickly, and become confused as well as fumbly, so the smart move here is to know my limits.)

Right.
Wash material first, if washable (check this).
Copy pattern from old cushion cover. Pin to fabric.
Cut out with seam allowance.
Mark up with chalk – I don't have tailor's chalk, but do have builder's chalk and blackboard chalk.

Given this is me, I think I'll pin the whole thing together to mock it up before proceeding further, and then write down the order in which to do the seams.

I think I'll do three-sided boxing and use the fabric from the top of the cover to wrap round and make a flap to tuck in. That way I can leave the boxing too long and test the piece actually on the cushion, trimming the boxing at the last minute.

I plan to fit my new covers over the existing covers, so those will keep the cushion pad in shape.

You're going to tell me about some horrible mistake I'm making here, aren't you?

I think as a fellow complete novice, I’d do a trial run with some scrap/cheap material first?

Very good point.

I'll have a rootle in the scraps drawer and maybe start with a piebald prototype before cutting the Nice Fabric.

Make it inside out!
If your cushions are symmetrical left and right you can just cut the material out roughly then pin and tack into place. Mark your sewing lines and stitch on the machine.
Velcro spots or safety pins in an invisible place to close.

Yes! Inside out!

I could cry though.

My sewing machine has just died. I had it serviced before taking the risk of splashing out on material, and I've just tried it for the first time and killed it.

The upper thread kept getting caught up in the machinery, and I could only do one or two stitches. I would turn the handwheel back, clear it out and start again, same thing. Even if I put the power off and just used the handwheel.

I wonder if I'd threaded something wrong, or put the bobbin in the case the wrong way. But then a piece of thread got properly jammed, and getting it out seems to have done something dreadful.

So I'm now I'm sitting here with a big pile of material (which has washed beautifully and shrunk just a little, thank you for that tip). And I'm looking at ££££ more to be able to do anything with it.

My bargain secondhand sofa is turning out to be a very expensive buy.

Ah, velcro spots had crossed my mind – I'll take that as a recommendation.

If I can get hold of a working machine.

Tangles often occur when the needle has been threaded with the foot in the down position. Did you do that?

Sorry, my “make it inside out” comment sounded a bit basic.
What I meant was on the cushion itself.
I’ve done it a couple of times on an old sofa with two L-shaped cushions the same. You can just make a long strip for the depth +3cm and pin it around the perimeter of your cushions. Be a bit generous on the outside corners and a bit mean on the inside ones. That way it will stretch where you want it to. Stitch your seams twice with polyester as it will probably get a beating.
I had a dog at the time and she loved resting her head on the armrest so maybe a couple of covers for those, too. God I miss that sofa- the armrest was just the right height for snoozing!

Have you thought of asking on a local Facebook page if you can borrow a sewing machine?
Here are a couple of (badly drawn) diagrams.....

I'm very impressed at the diagrams!

Ah yes, pin it up actually on the cushion. That's genius!

Also, shall buy new polyester thread as the label's fallen off the colour I need and (remembering where I bought it mumble years ago) I bet it was cotton.

My seat cushions are actual rectangles, thank goodness, although the back cushions are more complicated.

My latest idea is not to do boxing on three sides, but instead wrap a single piece of fabric from top over the front to bottom. Then add two short strips of boxing down the sides, possibly with rounded front ends? I feel that less cutting to exact sizes and fewer seams, means more leeway for my dodgy handiwork... But will my cushions look very ugly like this? They are currently ordinary boxes.

@rosegoldwatcher

Tangles often occur when the needle has been threaded with the foot in the down position. Did you do that?

By attempt 8, anything's possible. Indeed likely.

But no, I do remember the first threading, and foot was raised. Come to think of it, as I had to keep rescuing my test piece, the foot would naturally have been raised anyway.

I'm still trying to source a new-old machine or find out about repair.