Our Deluxe Porch Swing

Ryan built me this amazing over-sized porch swing for our first anniversary, and it was my job to get cushions for it sewn...which took me about 8 months longer than it should've.  I originally was going to sew box cushions with a zipper-I really wanted to be able to take the cushions off to wash them-but that's above my sewing ability.  Like way above.  And the whole project was intimidating the hell out of me.  We'd had the fabric/foam for months (purchased when it was half off at Hancocks), but it took a serious strategic session with my mom, grandma, Aunt Noelle and Ryan to get me moving.

Do you ever do that?  Something is hard, you don't really know what you're doing, so you just put it off for months and stress out about it daily.  Plus the fabric wasn't cheap (even though we got it 1/2 off) and I really didn't want to mess it up.

Anyway....thanks to lots of heads being put together, they are done, and I LOVE how it all turned out!

Ryan has been screening in the deck all around the swing this summer so I don't get eaten up by mosquitoes!

The pillows I sewed using a basic envelope pillow tutorial.  We went with bigger pillows than planned, so I was short on fabric, and it gaps in the back and you can see the pillow form.  I'm going to get some gray ribbons to disguise that, so that's an easy fix.  (Ruthie has the same pillow covers!)

The back/bottom gray cushions were what gave me such headaches.  We started with a rectangular piece of foam, then glued this mildew-resistant layer to one side, forming a thicker rectangle.  I used 60" wide home decor fabric, and had the fold of the fabric hitting the front (so you just see smooth and no seams) and saved all of the seams/velcro for the back and the sides.  The sides of the cushions I wrapped like a present and hand stitched.  The back I hemmed then added velcro so I can remove the cushions.

That is super unscientific and probably not in the least helpful, but we really just winged it...it was a lot of finagling, tacking this bit of fabric here, etc etc.  The back doesn't look perfect, but the cushions are removable, which was the goal-and no one's looking at the back anyway!

The swing is big enough that I can really stretch out and get comfy.  The dogs LOVE it!  I love sitting out here before work while the dogs play in the yard.  Overall, a killer anniversary present, and a sizable project crossed off my list.

Now I have a half finished skirt sitting in my sewing room; the invisible zipper has stopped me in my tracks.  I need to bring it to my grandma this weekend to get it finished up!

What have you been working on lately?