Woven ribbon cushion - a tutorial

This tutorial forms part of my

Click the image for more

On a trip to Target a couple of months ago, I spotted a lovely red cushion with raised, woven ribbon detail. I haven't been able to find a picture of it online, but I kept it in my head and decided to make one to go with my new bedroom decor (more on that in a future post).

The Target version had the ribbons closer together, but I wanted my silver fabric to show through so I spaced the ribbon weave further apart. The fabric came from the sale rack at Textile Traders and the ribbon was from Spotlight. This cushion only cost me about $7 to make, compared to $40 in Target.

Want to make one? Here's how:

You'll need enough fabric for the front and back of the cushion and approximately 9m of ribbon. I used 1cm wide ribbon in silver/grey.

I wanted a rectangular shaped cushion. The standard size for these (in Australia at least) is 30x50cm so I cut my fabric approximately 32x52cm (extra for seam allowance).

Both my measurements (30 and 50) are divisible by five, so I decided to space the ribbons 5cm apart. To begin with, I ironed horizontal folds in my fabric, 5cm apart. This formed the guide for the horizontal ribbons (you could draw lines with fabric chalk instead if it will show up on your fabric).

Next I marked with fabric chalk along my ribbon to indicate where to sew. I started about 4.5cm along the ribbon, then marked the next 2.5cm, then 4cm, then 2.5, 4, 2.5 until I'd marked approximately 75cm of ribbon. Each horizontal line takes about 75cm of ribbon, but don't cut it yet! You can see my markings in blue in the picture below.

Then you can start to sew. Turn on the radio as this takes a while, but it's easy and therapeutic! Lie the ribbon along the first ironed fold with the end of the ribbon at the side of the fabric. Sew along the first marked chalk line, reversing at each end of the stitching to keep it secure. Next is the 2.5cm section. Fold the ribbon halfway between the 2.5cm marks and stitch close to the first line of stitching you've just done (see below if this is confusing).

Don't worry if the stitching goes over the edges of the ribbon or if the folding is not perfect. It won't be noticeable when it's finished. At the end of the row, cut the ribbon flush with the edge of the fabric. Your first line of ribbon should look something like this:

Continue until you've done all the horizontal lines of ribbon. My cushion had five horizontal rows.

Now you are ready for the vertical rows of ribbon. I found it easier to just eyeball these rows, rather than marking the ribbon.

Weave your ribbon in and out of the existing ribbon rows as shown below (under, over, under, over etc.). Your next row will be woven the opposite way (i.e. over, under, over under).

With the ribbon centred between the existing 'sticky-up bits', continue to sew as before creating new sticky-up bits halfway between each existing row.

Sew, sew, sew and sew some more...

...until it's done. Then make up your cushion using your preferred method. I always do it this way.

I love the texture of the ribbon and the way it catches the light.

Woo hoo! This project was featured on:

Let's make the bed

Yes, I mean literally!

As I've mentioned before, my boys' bedrooms were in desperate need of attention. I decided that this year I would make the effort to sort them out. At the beginning of this year, we bought JJ (aged 6) a cabin bed. It was one of those that's high up with lots of storage and a cubby house underneath. We hoped that this would encourage him to sleep in his own bed all night. I put the bed together on my own while Mr Meggipeg was in Canada. Now, call me strange, but I love flatpacks. Well I did until I attempted this one. It nearly killed me, but I wrestled and swore and finally put it together. Standing back to admire my handiwork, I decided there and then that I hated that bed. It was enormous. There was no room left to play in. The boys liked the cubby, but getting in there with the vacuum cleaner was nigh on impossible. Eventually I gave up cleaning the room altogether and it ended up like this:

Ugh. Shudder. Let's say no more about it. But at least JJ was sleeping in his bed all night, right?

Wrong. Total disaster.

Plan B. Obviously the new bed had to go, but it took me a while to convince JJ of this. Despite refusing to sleep in it, he didn't want to let it go. In the end I promised to keep it forever so his children could sleep in it. Without wasting a moment, I wrenched the thing apart and bundled it into the garage. It's currently advertised on Gumtree. Any takers?

So, we needed a replacement bed. As luck would have it, our area was having a verge rubbish collection and I spied an old wooden bed a couple of streets away. JJ and I inspected it and he gave it the thumbs up. While he was at school that day I put on some dark sunglasses and drove round to get it. After much heave-hoing I finally got it into the back of the car (seats down). I would like to say that no one saw me doing this but, despite nonchalantly leaning on a nearby tree whenever a car went past, I think I may have been spotted once or twice.

That weekend, the boys and I set to work doing up the 'new' bed. The idea was that we would shorten it to maximise the space in the bedroom.

JJ did a great job undoing the screws. We measured the long side pieces and cut them off to fit the kids mattress I'd bought from Ikea. LJ was so keen to help, he didn't even change out of his pyjamas (meggipeg ones of course).

After a quick break for a babycino...

...we painted the whole thing fire engine red.

Then we put it all together again.

I love it! JJ kind of loves it, but still pines slightly for the old bed. This is such a cute little bed now. It is about 1.5 feet shorter than a standard single bed so it would suit a child up to about 8 or 9 years old. It takes up about a third of the space of the old hulking bed (and cost a tenth of the price for the mattress and the paint!!) so I can face cleaning the room again...sometimes...when I haven't got an exciting sewing project on the go.

To make it even cosier, I made a red curtain to hang over/around the bed (tutorial to come).

And I'm happy to say that JJ sleeps in this bed (quite) often. The boys had a blast doing all the woodwork and painting, so I'd say this was a win :)

This tutorial is part of the

Click for more

Boy bedroom makeover - Scout blanket with binding. A tutorial

My boys' bedrooms have been rather neglected for a long time and I've finally decided to do something about it. I'll show you bit by bit as I get things done in there.

Here are some 'before' pictures.

The first project is this old scout blanket. I found it at the op shop (thrift store) with all the badges already sewn on. As you can see, they date back to the early 80s and many of them are from the area of Perth where I grew up. I just had to have it. When I first bought it, the blanket had no edging and looked like this:

And here are some close-ups of some of the badges:

If something goes on the floor, Truffle has to try out lying on it.

I decided to edge the blanket with blue and white gingham fabric to finish it off. I had bought 1m of the fabric, so not enough to make bias trim. I decided to try making the trim by cutting straight strips of fabric and sewing them together. It worked! I'll show you how I did it.

To start, I cut strips the entire length of the fabric. Each strip was 15cm wide.

I sewed the strips together,

folded the edges over approximately 1cm on each side and ironed them.

Then I folded the long strip almost in half lengthwise, but with one 'half' slightly longer than the other.

That's the binding done. To begin attaching it I folded the ends inward to a point and pinned it to the side of the blanket. The central fold of the binding is right on the edge of the blanket. This picture shows the fold of the blanket pinned in place. The next few pictures will show how to sew neat corners.

With the shorter 'half' of the binding on top, sew zig-zag stitch along the side of the blanket across to the corner. The zig-zag should easily catch the slightly longer lower edge of the binding.

Keeping the fold of the binding at the edge of the blanket, wrap the binding around the corner of the blanket and pin in the position of the yellow pin below.

Neaten the corner fold so it is at 45 degrees from the corner of the blanket and pin in the position of the red pin below.

Starting at the outside corner, sew zig-zag down the fold (backstitch or do close-together stitches to start). Pivot at the inside edge and continue sewing down the next side of the blanket to the next corner.

When you reach the end, trim and fold the binding as shown below and stitch in place. Yay!

All done :)

I am really pleased with how this turned out. The badges add colour and interest. My son likes to relax and look at all the different badges. He's even started making his bed neatly!

If you can't find a scout blanket, maybe you can find scout badges on ebay, garage sales or op shops. Alternatively use patches of printed fabrics, buttons or other interesting embellishments. As always, I'd love to hear from you if you make one!

This tutorial is part of the

Click for more

The kids are away

We are having a lovely quiet afternoon while the boys are at a friend's house. Ahh, so nice. I took the opportunity to take down the big paddling pool which has been up all summer. There'll be complaints, but I'm happy to get the space back outside. After much sweeping and rearranging, we have our lovely sitting area back again. It is still a work in progress so more on that later. The lemon tree is bountiful as always, so we picked a load of lemons ready for making lemon goodies or giving to friends. Then we sat in our 'new' outdoor area for a well earned coffee. Bliss...

New rectangular cushions

I updated some of my old cushions on the weekend with this gorgeous grey and white Ikea fabric. I used my failsafe pillow tutorial. I think I might just have to sit outside with a nice glass of lemon, lime and bitters. Mmmmm!