tea towel to cushion cover

Here's another thing I've been meaning to do for the past year. The fabric used for the cover is a tea towel I bought ages ago when I worked for April Cornell. The color and design appealed to me, but I haven't much use for a fringed tea towel lately. For a few years I draped it over the back of a chair in the living room, but it was turned into a dress up item by the girls too often. I got a little tired of picking it up off the floor when they were done with it.

Now it sits on the sofa looking lovely as a pillow.

The transformation was pretty easy. The towel was folded into thirds(or close to it depending on your towel and cushion size). The following shows the first fold. The design that you want to show on top should be folded in first. Remember to have the wrong side out.

Next, fold down the last third(or so). This fold will be hidden inside. Pin a few places on the sides. I'm lazy with the pinning, so I only put a few in to hold the fringe out of the way as I sewed.

Run two seams that match up with the size of the cushion insert. Mine left a two inch seam allowance. I didn't bother to cut off the excess, it was just tucked to the back of the insert. (I might want to undo do this at a later date, so I decided to keep all the fabric intact.)

Turn the cover right side out and insert the cushion.