Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Garden Bench Makeover

 Saturday Morning...I haven't sewn for a few days.  I want a project to get me going again -something easy and quick to get the 'Mojo' back.

This bench sits near my front door. On a bright spring morning, it looks -well -shabby.  The cushions are dirty and that sort of 'crisp' feel which fabric gets just before it dies.

So, I thought -why not make one cushion?

I have some patches from a 'leader/ender' quilting project. Made them without much thought, from scraps, whilst doing another quilt. No real idea what to do with them.  That would be the start of the new cushion cover!

 So-off come all the cushions.  ErK! The bench itself is a bit grubby -spidery -and some mildew too!

In a break from sewing, I scrubbed the thing clean and left it to dry in the sun.


I commented to DH that I thought it would be better if it had a coat of stain/sealer.

Something waterproof and which would renew the bench and help it last a good few seasons yet.

No sooner had I said it than he had gone to the shed, found a half a tin of outdoor SIKKENS and started painting.

It made a huge difference!

The picture below shows how the bench looks now, and also reveals that I couldn't stop at one cushion.

I had a nice piece of sheeting rescued from an op shop, which covered the bench seat.


 I made two cushions. All using scraps from my sewing room. Double sided so that when one side gets a bit grubby, I can rotate them to get them to last longer.


Then I made one more!


That's better!