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December 17, 2018

DIY French Tufted Mattress (Window Seat Cushion)

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Hi! Happy Tuesday. I put this cushion DIY off for as long as I possibly could until it was crunch time. We were having a big group of people over a week later and I didn’t want them to have to sit on the hard-wooden bench (DIY HERE) so I sucked it up and started to figure it out. Here’s the thing… I’m not a sewer. My mom, who is great at sewing, has been meaning to teach me but never got around to it. The only thing I’d ever sewn was this raggedy curtain for our laundry room and that even makes me cringe now. Sewing something like a CUSHION of all things was absolutely terrifying to me. On the bright side though… At least it wasn’t something I’d have to wear…

I’m not even going to go through the trouble of explaining this process to you all because I didn’t reinvent the wheel here. I mainly just compiled a couple of different methods I had found and made it work. Furthermore, since it’s a lot of words and a bit complicated to explain in writing, I compiled my Instagram story videos so they should hopefully be more helpful than me writing out every step. If not, feel free to ask me questions!! Since these are my Instagram stories the quality isn’t good, just FYI. I’m no videographer over here… But hey! If it helps even one of you that’s worth it to me. 

DIY Window Seat Cushion

I messed up quite a bit but is that really a surprise? Like I said, I had never really sewn anything before! I even had to start completely over!! My hope is that this project encourages you all to step out of your comfort zone and TRY SOMETHING NEW! Even as much as it might terrify you. You’re going to make mistakes. That’s inevitable! But it’ll be okay! Now I won’t dread the thought of sewing something else. In fact, I plan on using our old shower curtain to make a new curtain in the laundry room now that I’ve gained a bit of confidence with the sewing machine. It might not be perfect but at least it’ll be better, right?

Notes for the video (I would take out all of the videos up to this point but I say some important stuff at the beginning) –

  • Buy hi-loft batting and ENOUGH of it to cover your entire foam cushion to begin with. Don’t try to be frugal like us and buy the thin stuff and fold it. It was a waste of so much time and money. I ended up having to go to the store late at night to buy the correct stuff and then had to completely redo the cover because the measurements were off. Don’t do what I did.
  • I had to completely redo the first cover I made because I made it too big. I wanted to keep those videos in here to show you the mistakes I made so that you DON’T do what I did! The second time around worked like a charm (as seen in the video). 

ARVE Error: Mode: lazyload not available (ARVE Pro not active?), switching to normal mode

THIS is the basic tutorial I used to create the cushion. I just didn’t do the zipper part.

THIS is the tutorial I used to create the french mattress look. The main difference is that I used this yarn instead of thread.

THIS is the video I used to teach myself how to do a slip stitch to hand sew the last side of the cover once the cushion was in.

For the tufts (as shown on my Instagram stories/video above):

  • Start by marking off where you want your tufts on the cushion
  • Cut 4- 12” strands of yarn for each tuft
  • Tie the ends of them together in a big knot
  • Put the other ends through the doll needle (all strands)
  • Push the doll needle through the pre marked tuft spot, flip the cushion over, and pull it out on the other side. It works best to put your knees on the cushion and push down on the cushion to pull the needle through using pliers. The knot you made previously should stop it from going all the way through.
  • Continue pushing down on the cushion with your knees as hard as you can. It helps to have another person pressing down on the cushion around the yarn with their hands so that it be pulled as tight as possible. Make 4-5 knots with the yarn while pulling the yarn tight and pressing down on the cushion.
  • Cut the yarn to the length you want remaining for your tuft.
  • Continue this process until all of the tufts are done!
Window Seat Cushion

Little Brooke loved helping with the tufts!

Materials I used:

  • Foam 
  • Drop cloth
  • Yarn I used for the tufts and the stitching along the outside
  • Batting – make sure to get enough to cover your entire cushion!
  • Doll needle
  • Gardening glove/towel of some sort
  • Pliers

Let me know if you have any questions. As always, thank you so much for the support!

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with joy
jordan jean

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