The House of Marx: My first slipcover!

Hey yall!! So I'm really excited about this project because it's my first real sewing project with my sewing machine!! I did use the machine for the first time a couple weeks ago when I sewed up some rips in the hubby's jeans.... but he informed me that one of the rips ripped again... :( oooopsie. So I have to figure out what happened to that!

I put the bookshelf that used to be in Caden's room before I got this awesome book rack and put it in the front entryway for shoes. This was Jeremy's idea! At first I hated the idea. But I said ok let's put it there and see how it feels.

Well needless to say I ended up liking it :) Good idea babe! And Caden loves it too. He LOVES shoes and loves to pick up and put things where they go so putting shoes in his own cubby is super fun for him :)

Because I loved the idea of cubbies by the door I started looking at buying an entryway bench that had cubbies as well. But they were all over $100! boo! no way did I feel like spending that kind of money. So I thought why not just make a cushion for the top of the shelf and create my own bench?! yay!

So I went to hobby lobby and got some supplies:

I bought three foam pads that were 12 x 12. The dimensions I needed were 11.5 x 36 and all the bigger foam pads at the store were so big and around $20 or more. I knew I could cut them to the size I needed but I really didnt want to do that and I didnt want the extra foam since I dont forsee any projects in the future I would need it for and I would have to store it somewhere. No thanks. Then I saw the 12 x12 squares! Perfect!! I could deal with a 1/2 inch extra. And I didnt really care that it wasnt one solid piece. And bonus, all the foam was 30% off!

This is the fabric I bought. and it was on clearance!! booyah!! Of course the clearance section was the last place I looked. So I spent forever browsing all the fabrics and had a hard time finding one that would blend well with all the different paint colors you can see from the entry way. The dining room is red, the kitchen yellow, the entryway a cream, and the living room a very subtle shade of green. So this pattern was perfect!

I purchased a yard in case I made some kind of mistake. I folded the yard in half long ways and cut it. Then I took one piece and cut it to 40 inches. I needed 36 for the length but the foam is 2 inches thick. So I added two inches for each side.

I took the other piece and cut it into two equal parts. This will be for the bottom where you can slip the foam in.

I then cut the width to 16 inches. 12 inches for the width of the foam and adding two inches for each side.

I took the bottom two pieces and folded over an inch on one side for a finished edge for the opening. I ironed it down so it would stay. I didnt have any straight pins! next project I will make sure to have some.

Here's the finished edge!

I placed the two pieces onto the top with the pattern side in, and measured an inch in along every side. This is wear I planned to sew. I know I didnt need to do a full inch (all you expert sewers out there) But I was really nervous and wanted to give myself lots of wiggle room in case I messed up somewhere.

This is just to show you the opening.

Here is is all finished and the opening of the slip cover. I know I skipped pictures of the actually sewing part but really I was so nervous I was going to do something wrong and mess up that I was very focused and forgot! But you get the idea.

Ta da!!! It turned out so great!! It didn't fit as snug as I planned. Probably because I didn't want it to be too tight so I overcompensated when measuring. It's still great though!