A QUICK TUTORIAL TO DRESS YOUR CHAIR

Make this pillow for your Adirondack chair to ease your neck while lounging in it.  For this project you will need one fat quarter (I suggest this in case you want to make your pillow bigger than what is suggested here), Velcro (for one pillow you will need about 10  inches to be on the safe side), about 25 inches of ribbon, and polyester fiberfill.

1. From your fabric, cut one piece 15” x 17”.    Before you cut this size, determine which way you want the pattern on the fabric to go. For instance, my fabrics all have stripes.  The first one I made, the stripes went lengthwise.  However, my son said he wanted them to go “up and down.” 

2.Fold your piece of fabric in half with long edges together and press the fold.  It should measure 15” x 8 ½” when folded.

3. Now refold so that right side of fabric is on the inside.  Again, this should measure 15” x 8 ½” when folded.

4. Sew along the long open the edge of folded fabric.

5. Now slide or move this tube of fabric so that the seam line you just stitched, lines up with the fold line that you pressed.

6. Press the piece flat so that the seam is in the middle matching that fold line.  Press the center seam open.  This reduces bulk during the rest of the sewing.

7. Once pressed, sew across one end to close tube.  We will call this End A.  

8. Sew the other end, together leaving a 4” opening.   We will call this end End B.  A tip I read on another blog: When making this opening, start sewing at the corner and stop sewing at your mark indicating where to leave open.  With your needle down, turn the fabric and stitch to the outer edge of the fabric. Do the same when you continue on the other side of your 4” mark.  This makes it easier to fold after you turn it inside out.

9. Turn right side out and press.       

10. Then stitch ¼” around project.  Make sure to leave the 4” opening at End B so you can stuff the pillow.

11. Prepare the straps.  I used Velcro with a sticky back and 1 ¼” Ribbon (wider if desired).   I cut the ribbon in two sizes (to save on having to purchase more ribbon) but you can cut the length you want.  Just make sure the ribbon will reach and overlap when attached to the chair.  For me, I cut one piece 8 ½” long and the other 11 ½” long. I used pinking shears to cut the ribbon.  Before attaching the ribbon to the pillow, attach the Velcro.  First, place a 4” strip of Velcro on the short piece of ribbon.  Center the Velcro on the ribbon and place the Velcro about 1” from the one end that is Not going to be sewn to the pillow.  Then with the sister piece of Velcro, center it on the longer piece of ribbon, again about 1” from the end that is not going to be sewn to pillow. 

12. I chose the stick-on Velcro because I thought it would be easier.  Not sure about that because it kept gumming up my needle, consequently I just sewed the ends of the Velcro to the ribbon rather than the length of the cut Velcro and hope it stays on. 

13. Turn the other end of the ribbon under. This is the end that you will sew to the pillow.

14. Above, you can see where I sewed one end to the pillow, End A.  Center the ribbon across the center seam. You should sew the turned under edge down and make sure that the Velcro is facing up.  (I took this picture early, before I realized I needed to sew the Velcro 1” from the end.)

15.When attaching the ribbon, try to stitch on the stitching line you made when sewing the ¼” around the pillow in step 10.

16. Sew the other piece of the ribbon to the opening of the pillow, End B.  Center the ribbon on the center seam so it will match up with the ribbon you sewed to End A.  Be careful to stitch to only one side of the opening and make sure that this part of the Velcro faces down so the two pieces of Velcroed Ribbon will hook.  Do this before you do any stuffing.  (I know  the picture shows the stuffing but I forgot to take the picture in time.)

17. Then the fun begins.  You stuff the pillow as tightly as you can with the polyester fiberfill.

18. After the pillow is stuffed, pin it securely and using your zipper foot sew the opening closed.  Try to start and finish where previous outside stitching was made.

Here is the finished pillow from the back.

And here is the finished pillow from the front.  

ENJOY

PS:   I'm not used to writing a tutorial so, if you have questions please let me know.

Caroll, 

Caring, Sharing, Creating Smiles