Arwen's meanderings

Hi everyone and welcome to my dinghy cruising blog about my John Welsford designed 'navigator' named Arwen. Built over three years, Arwen was launched in August 2007. She is a standing lug yawl 14' 6" in length. This blog records our dinghy cruising voyages together around the coastal waters of SW England.
Arwen has an associated YouTube channel so visit www.YouTube.com/c/plymouthwelshboy to find our most recent cruises and click subscribe.
On this blog you will find posts about dinghy cruising locations, accounts of our voyages, maintenance tips and 'How to's' ranging from rigging standing lug sails and building galley boxes to using 'anchor buddies' and creating 'pilotage notes'. I hope you find something that inspires you to get out on the water in your boat. Drop us a comment and happy sailing.
Steve and Arwen

Wednesday 23 December 2020

Making cushions for my Kentucky stick garden chairs

 I am in the middle of building a garden furniture set for my new bee and butterfly garden - my first lock down project. 

One chair has been made and the process and details can be found here: https://arwensmeanderings.blogspot.com/2020/11/how-to-build-kentucky-stick-chair.html


Each chair needs two cushions - one big and one smaller. 

Using a sewing machine is a new learning experience for me but I've managed to work it out with a bit of help from the boss. 

I  measured out the fabric 49 cm square - two pieces. I cut them using pinking scissors so that the edges wouldn't fray. The trick, I soon discovered, is to pin the two squares together at all times. And the other trick is to sew the cushions inside out and then when finished turn them back out the right way. 

Four cushions requires a roll of fabric 1.5m wide by 2m long

Pinking shears at the ready and the use of a set square to get straight line 


The zip goes in first. The zip length was 36cm. I stitched it to one fabric square first and then separated the zip and stitched the other side to the other square before zipping the two pieces back together.  After that, I re-pinned the two squares back together before running them through the sewing machine. I put in a double line of stitching all the way around for additional strength. 

The end result

And so here is the first of the cushions. I think the fabric is very appropriate for garden cushions. 

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