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Posted by Joy Beeson on May 11, 2008, 12:05 am
On Sat, 10 May 2008 17:30:11 -0700 (PDT), "kjbltd@yahoo.com"
> I am making a box cushion and understand that I need to sew welting on
> the top and bottom pieces. What is the next order of operation???
> The "boxing strips" that go around the outside of the cushion.... Do I
> insert the zipper into its two strips and then sew the completed
> zipper "boxing strip" to one end of the long boxing strip? I am
> fairly new to this and am concerned that I don';t wind up with a
> boxing strip that is too long for the cushion.
First determine how long your boxing strip needs to be. This will
probably be equal to the distance around the top or bottom *at the
stitching line.*
Then determine how long the strips for the zipper need to be --
probably a little more than the length of a side, to wrap around two
corners to make it easier to get the pillow form in and out. Buy the
zipper first! You may not be able to get the exact length that you
planned on.
Subtract the length of the zipper strips from the total length needed:
this will tell you how long a strip you need to sew to the zippers to
make the boxing strip. Add four seam allowances to let you sew the
two strips together.
----------------------
A worked example: Suppose that I am using half-inch seams to assemble
a cushion twelve inches square.
(You may want more or less than half an inch, depending on your
fabric.)
I cut two thirteen-inch squares for the top and bottom; after taking a
half inch off each side, there will be twelve inches left.
There are four twelve-inch sides, so I need a boxing strip that is
forty-eight inches around.
I roodle around in my foot locker and find a zipper with a
fourteen-inch chain. A trifle tight, but it's the right color. The
tapes are sixteen inches long, so I decide that that is the right
length for my zipper strips. (I'd allow at least an inch of excess
strip at each end of the chain, to keep stuff from piling up
together.)
We calculated that the finished boxing strip needs to be forty-eight
inches. Sixteen from forty-eight is thirty-two. I add two inches to
allow for seams: Thirty-four. If I cut a thirty-four inch strip and
lay it end-to-end with a sixteen-inch strip, the total will be fifty
inches. But when I sew them together, I lose half an inch off the
long strip and half an inch off the zipper strip at each seam: I lose
one inch at each end of the zipper strip, that's two inches, and two
from fifty is forty-eight.
Mops brow, cuts fabric, sews boxing strip together, pins top or bottom
to boxing strip, has a little of one or the other left over -- well,
that's just the way fabric is, that's all. So mark the corners and
the midpoints of each side on the top and bottom, and make eight
equally-spaced marks on the boxing strip, match the marks, and you can
sew them together without unintended easing.
Joy Beeson
--
joy beeson at comcast dot net
http://roughsewing.home.comcast.net/ -- sewing
http://n3f.home.comcast.net/ -- Writers' Exchange
The above message is a Usenet post.
I don't recall having given anyone permission to use it on a Web site.
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