Caravan Cushions
Tired of those caravan cushions that just aren't, well... You!
Do you just fancy a change? A new colour scheme that will match your new interior? Or maybe just some stretch covers that can be taken off, washed and refitted? There will be something here!
While working on others things on the Merdeceds 811D, Stewart mentioned he wanted the cushions he had for the van reupholstering. I offered my very limited services of sewing and he agreed! I had made him aware I hadn't done very much sewing previously, I had reupholstered various things in my van myself and I knew how to use a sewing machine! So, things are positive so far. I said to Stewart I would do the smallest cushion first and see if he was happy with it, if so then I would do the rest, if not, nothing lost, I gained a little experience and he knew he had to find an upholsterer! So! I was pretty confident that I could capture Stewarts style in the cushions, but whether he liked them, well, that would be decided in a few days when I had gotten my head around how to make them! They were far easier to make and put together than I had imagined. Stewart asked if I could make them removeable so they can be taken off and washed if needed! Perfect! Now I needed to add a zip!
From this
To this
After finishing the first cushion, I had to figure out how to get the button back on! Button tufting! Learning everyday. This ridiculously long needle and twine made it possible to put the original buttons back on! (After I had recovered those also, more on that later!). I tried to use as much as the original fabric as possible, although I didn't use the red/orange/beighe fabric I did reuse the old gauze/wadding/quilting material that the top fabric was stitched to. This gave the cushion a more padded and 'cushiony' feel!.... If anyone knows what this stuff is called, please feel free to let me know!
Anyway! Back to the cushions. They were relativly simple to do, until it came to fitting them! That was far from simple.
I had a great time being surrounded by fabric, cushions, sewing machine and all the possible reels of cotton that I could hold in my hands in one go! Stewart absolutely loved the first cushion so asked me to finish the rest of them in the same style, but add a lot more colour into them so they weren't all so white! That was when we decided to make each cushion a different colour co-ord! He now had one blue, yellow, green, red, orange, purple and grey cushion.
Unpicking all the old stitching, removing the buttons, ironing all the fabric flat and removing the wadding so I could make a pattern! For the larger cushions, this took a few hours to do!
As you can see, each cushion was not made from fabric off a roll, they were all made from fabric books! These cushions are definietly the most expesive, fanciest and beautiful cushions I have ever seen in a van! So much so, it has inspired me to do something similar when it comes to reupholstering the seats in my car!
Roughly for the larger cushions it took around 3 days from start to finish! By the time I had unpicked everything, cut all the fabric out of the books, removed the information stickers from the back (by ironing every single one and hoping they came off! If not, I was there pulling the paper off!), piecing the colours together, making one large fabric roll first then making the pattern and stitching all the patterned pieces together from there! Although it was time consuming, it was totally worth it for the final look!
You can see all the individual pieces of fabric here that needed to be stitched together for the pattern first!
Detailed clips
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Quirky
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Flowers
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Bright
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Colourful
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Not boring!
I think that the checklist Stewart gave me was hit. I am so happy with how the cushions have come out, all the cushions are now finished and waiting to be moved into the van when it has finished being converted in a few months time. I also have some fitted throws to make also to go on top of these to protect the cushions a little more!
Please, Stewart, don't drop any wine! Or pizza sauce!
Do your cushions need brightening or bringing into the 21st century? Drop me an e-mail for a price or any questions!
Stewart picking out the fabrics he did and didn't like! Colours he did and didn't like. Patterns he did and didn't like!