Doily embelished zipper cushion cover tutorial

I've completed a little project for my Feather your nest entry and I thought I'd share with you a little how-to on it.  Ready? (*note - all measurements are in inches as I have found that much easier to stick to, having my sewing machine and ruler both in inches).  I used a cushion I already had as my muse with regard to size and zipper installation and found it came together really easily.

You will need-

• 1 piece of white cotton or drill 13"x 21"
• 2 piece of fabric for rear of cushion (I used oatmeal colored linen) top piece being 5"x21" and bottom 9.5"x21"
• Crocheted doily
• 17" zipper (mine is black as it's what I had but you could go with one to match your rear fabric)
• embroidery needle and matching thread to your doily color
• sewing machine

What we do- *I used a 1/2" seam allowance

Gather supplies and iron and cut fabrics to size








Center your doily and pin in place (you may want to use several small round ones strategically placed instead or whatever you wish to embellish with) I pinned on each scalloped edge.

Hand stitch your doily onto the white fabric all the way around using tiny stitches about 1/4" apart so as not to be noticeable.  (I chose to stitch the doily on in a rectangle just inside the scalloped edges so as to let them be free but you can stitch it how you like).

Now its time to construct the back piece so choose your zipper.  (I picked these five up from the Salvo's store for .50 each, luckily one was long enough to use!) It needs to be big enough to get a cushion insert through, mine was 20" which was a tad long so I just stitched over the teeth at the stopper end (not the pull end) and cut off the excess to make it 17" long.

Take your top piece of back fabric and fold over the bottom edge (I used the selvage along this edge as I don't have an overlocker and I didn't want it fraying but you can also zig-zag along this edge before folding)  fold it over 1" and iron flat so you have a nice neat edge (this will be used as a flap to cover your zipper when sewn in).  Set this aside for the moment.

Take your bottom back piece and pin your zipper face down to the top edge of the right side of this piece, making sure its centered.  Now stitch along this top edge using your zipper foot, back-stitching at each end.

Now that its attached you can flip it up and get ready to attach your top piece.

 A look at the underside of both pieces

With both pieces facing right side up, line your folded edge over the top of your zipper and pin in place, making sure you place a pin at each end of your zipper (just inside those pesky silver clasps so as not to hit em with your needle) this is so you know where to start and finish.  You will probably want to flip it over and check that the zipper and raw edge are squared up so as you catch them both when you sew together.  Make sure you have your zipper pulled down a couple of inches so you can sew it neatly.  Now take to your machine and start at your first pin at the zipper pull end and stitch back and forth over the zipper teeth, now pivot and sew down to the zipper pull and with your needle down, lift your zipper foot and work the zipper pull past your foot, drop your foot and stitch all the way along to your bottom pin then pivot and stitch across your zipper teeth again (back and forth a couple of times) now stop on the bottom side of your zipper teeth and pivot once again and sew as close to the bottom edge as possible along to the end..back stitch to secure.  now you just have to stitch up the 2" or so at the other end as close to the edge as possible, back stitching at each end and your zipper is installed!

See zipper hidden under flap

Now with right sides together and your zipper pulled down a couple of inches (so as you can turn it out) pin and sew around the entire perimeter.  Clip corners and turn out and YOU ARE DONE!

 Now just admire your new cushion cover.

with hidden zipper.

 Display it proudly in your home

 The whole family will enjoy it!!

Hope you enjoyed this little tutorial and that I've made it easy to follow.  I'd love to see any you make and please if you have any problems let me know
Kristin