Envelope Fold T-shirt Cushion - the tutorial

I promised the tutorial for this cushion a little while ago.

I used to make my t-shirt cushions using this tutorial, where the cushion is fully sealed and the t-shirt is left intact. this is fine for me as to wash I unpick the final seam, wash, then sew it back up.
But I wanted to make a cushion for a friend that doesn't really sew, and she was happy for me to cut the t-shirt, so i decided to make an envelope fold cushion.
Work with the T-shirt inside out.
The first thing is to decide on the size, the maximum square you can make is the width between the arm holes, measure this, and then measure the same distance down from the neck hole and mark this square on the reverse of the front of the t-shirt.
turn the th-shirt over so you are working from the back (still inside out)cut up the sides nearly to the arm hole. You will actually cut it all the way up, but just cutting this far, helps to hold the positions of the front and back.
Fold the front of the t-shirt inside the t-shirt to make the square you decided on previously.( this will make the envelope flap, so the longer it is, the better.)
fold up the back, to shorten it ( I made it shorter than the front, but have since decided that it is better to actually make it the same length)

sew across this hem.

pin front and back together, trim off surplus on sides and top and sew along the sides and top of the square. Make sure that you are also sewing in the flap that you folded earlier

turn right side out.

insert cushion pad (tip: use a cushion pad larger than the measured size of your cover for a plump cushion)

cutaway layered t-shirt (reverse applique)-tutorial

I saw some t-shirts similar to this in a french market, and thought "ooo I could do something like that with my own designs". I had never heard of reverse applique, so didn't know what this technique was, but it seemed quite obvious. I like that it's a full t-shirt over another, so you can get away with using cheaper t-shirts as you don't need the thickness. The two t-shirts are only held together by the design, but you could add extra stitching if you prefer.


So I bought a couple of £2.50 t-shirts from primark, to fit my teenage son. He wanted a skull design so the first thing to do was to design the skull (I was originally hoping that he'd choose something simpler!) please note, it's me modelling it in the picture though, NOT my teenage son!


I then drew around this onto the outer t-shirt.


I carefully positioned the inner t-shirt inside the outer one and pinned them together around the design.

I stitched over the design using a sewing machine, set to a stretch stitch.


I then cut away just the top layer inside the design. I purposefully kept the edges rough and unfinished looking.



and that's it, all that remains to do is tidy up the ends of the thread (I just used a sewing needle to pass the thread to the back and tied it off inside.

t-shirt cushion tutorial

I got a lovely response to the last t-shirt cushion that I made I decided that while I was making another one today I would put together a tutorial.

Start with a favourite t-shirt that your child has grown out of and make sure it's ironed.
you will also need: a cushion pad (I got mine from poundland!); needle and thread; pins; a ruler

turn inside out and mark the largest square you can between the arm seams and neck. Pin the two sides together, leaving most of the bottom edge unpinned.
sew, either by machine or hand, the two sides together, leaving a large opening, but going past the corners on the opening edge.
I like to hand sew, as I find it relaxing and can do it anywhere.
turn inside out, leaving the rest of the t-shirt intact, use your hands to flatten down the sleeves and neck edge inside.
fold the bottom edges inside
insert the cushion pad, ensuring the sleeves etc still lie flat
neatly close the edge with pins
sew together, trying to keep the stitches hidden
you could of course add a zip, but I love the simplicity of doing it this way, and my son loves his cushions, and wants to grow out of more of his t-shirts so that he can have a huge stack of them on his bed.

my year in posts

Happy New Year!!
In a fit of nostalgia I decided to have a look through my last year of blogging, to pick out some of the posts that sum up my year in crafting. Either when I found a new technique or tool that I loved, or just something i really love

The year started well with a six month stint on the Scrolls Work design Team. I had previously been on the Inka design team, so was delighted to be promoting their stamps again.
I made this unusual tag in a card design, which I later did as a tutorial on gingersnaps
http://madebyjoanne.blogspot.com/2010/02/theme-thursday-girls.html

I also had a brief stint playing with Zentangles
http://madebyjoanne.blogspot.com/2010/02/zentangle-heart.html

Then I was asked to be a 2010 member of the Frantic Stamper Design team, and I made this tag with my first batch of goodies
http://madebyjoanne.blogspot.com/2010/03/tag-tuesday-arch.html

March arrived and I started planning my christmas presents. I came up with this pattern for Crochet Slippers, which I made for my book group (9 pairs, and I DID finish them on time)
http://madebyjoanne.blogspot.com/2010/03/crochet-slippers.html

This next one was a fun one, when I decided to challenge myself to see if I could make an attractive balaclava!
http://madebyjoanne.blogspot.com/2010/04/at-last-perfect-profile-picture.html

Then my obsession with pencil colouring started with a tutorial on the gingersnap blog
http://madebyjoanne.blogspot.com/2010/05/quick-and-easy-pencil-colouring.html

Almost halfway through the year and my good friend Jo had her designs made into stamps by Stampotique. And I just loved working with them
http://madebyjoanne.blogspot.com/2010/05/jasmine.html

which was handy when I joined the Happy Daze Design team
http://madebyjoanne.blogspot.com/2010/06/happy-daze-design-team-announcement-tag.html

I also became a regular contributor to Craft Stamper Magazine, and have had quite a few article in the magazine this year, with more planned for next year. It's been such a joy to see my work in print amongst proper talented, and well known, designers. ( ever had that "I'm not worthy" feeling?)
http://madebyjoanne.blogspot.com/2010/06/august-craft-stamper-sneak-peaks.html

This next one, is when I discovered that I could design a template for a swing card. I am planning to put this together as a tutorial sometime
http://madebyjoanne.blogspot.com/2010/05/kinetic-card.html

I found a way to "upcycle" my son's favourite t-shirts to make cushions
http://madebyjoanne.blogspot.com/2010/06/t-shirt-cushion-tutorial.html

This is just a really simple sympathy card, that I liked.
http://madebyjoanne.blogspot.com/2010/06/sympathy-card.html

and a fun card for a boy
http://madebyjoanne.blogspot.com/2010/06/gc20-shades-of-blue.html

A cake for my son's birthday and my obsession with nail art begins
http://madebyjoanne.blogspot.com/2010/07/climbing-wall-cake-and-some-nail-art.html

a fun paint experiment that I enjoyed
http://madebyjoanne.blogspot.com/2010/08/gingersnap-creations-paint.html

I realised how much I loved One Layer Cards....
http://madebyjoanne.blogspot.com/2010/09/one-layer-wednesday-trees.html

.... pencil colouring on Kraft card...
http://madebyjoanne.blogspot.com/2010/09/brrrr-its-chilly.html

......masks (I just saw a very similar card to this on create and craft today)....
http://madebyjoanne.blogspot.com/2010/10/going-dotty.html

.... the immovable knot technique (not my invention, link included)
http://madebyjoanne.blogspot.com/2010/11/girly-girl-sweet-sixteen.html

....and blender pencils
http://madebyjoanne.blogspot.com/2010/09/brrrr-its-chilly.html

more knitting, loved this toy that I made for my son
http://madebyjoanne.blogspot.com/2010/10/daphne-and-delilah.html

Moira at happy daze challenged me to use a bee stamp to make a christmas card
http://madebyjoanne.blogspot.com/2010/10/bee-lieve.html

approaching the end of the year I was asked to join the Rogue Redhead design team, and used the stamps to make one of my favourite discoveries of the year, a box to hold a rolled up amazon voucher..... presents sorted forever!!!!! (tutorial included)
http://madebyjoanne.blogspot.com/2010/11/box-for-scroll-or-rolled-voucher.html

then to finish the year off, I was asked to be guest designer on the winter wonderland challenge
http://madebyjoanne.blogspot.com/2010/12/winter-wonderland-designer-in-spotlight.html

So all in all, it's been a brilliant year! I've really enjoyed looking back over the year, it's made me realise just how much I've done, and I can't wait for another year of crafting!

random things I have made this week...

A tudor soft cap for my youngest son's school trip



A cushion for my eldest son, from his favourite t-shirt thet he grew out of.



A book bag for myself from a granny square made by Marie Greene



a crochet baby blanket for a pregnant friend.

I've also done lots of stamping, but can't quite show you any of that at the moment.

cushions galore....

I'm in a bit of a cushion making frenzy at the moment. I have a new sewing machine and I adore it, so here's a selection

4 envelope fold cushions made from the leftovers from shortening a pair of curtains

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some red corduroy cushions with a zip in the seam (I just learned how to do that from a youtube video)- these are to go on the back seat of my car.

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an envelope fold t-shirt cushion (tutorial to follow)

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and then finally not sewn, but crocheted, a really simple crochet cushion with a zip in the back.

stampotique: wearable art challenge and a chance to be a guest designer.

Want a chance to be a guest designer for Stampotique? We love to give our fans a chance to be a part of Stampotique throughout the year, and our challenges here are one way to do that.

There are 2 ways to enter this challenge. First one is you can join in with our challenge here and when entering put GDT next to your entry. Second way is you can create anything with Stampotique stamps and post it over on our Facebook page. Please remember either way you must use Stampotique stamps.

We will announce our next guest designer with our next challenge on March 28th.

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For my wearable art, I used Monster by Roc Nicholas. I stamped with versacraft fabric ink, which I hot-ironed to set. I stamped again onto felt and cut out the body, which I glued in place with fabric glue and the blanket stitched in place. I then embroidered various parts and sewed on a button. I also used whatever stamp. I gave this t-shirt to my 9 year old to wear.