Recycled Ribbons Cushion Cover

ribbons, fabric, cushion pad, thread, sewing machine

Christmas often leaves me with a pile of pretty bits of ribbon from nicely wrapped presents. It's too nice to throw away but you're struggling for a use for it. We often tie ours to a door handle and leave it there forever.....

So I'm making some new cushions for my daughter's den (more about that later) and thinking, why don't I sew some ribbons onto a cover? So I did! Here's how it's done....

1. measure your cushion pad and cut a piece of fabric the same size. Slightly smaller if the cushion is flat and needs plumping up a bit.

2. with french chalk or a water soluble pen, draw several guiding lines across one half of the fabric on which to pin the ribbon.

3. pin the ribbons to the fabric and sew them on.

4. add in a few decorative stitches that you might find on your sewing machine. Wash or brush off any guiding lines made.

5. cut a piece of fabric for the back of the cushion, 1.5 times the size of the cushion pad. Cut it in to two even pieces and hem one long edge on each piece.

6. sew the back to the front by firstly lying the two back pieces on top of the front of the cushion with right sides together. Overlap the two hemmed edges of the back and sew the back to the front (as in the picture). This is called a pillow back.