Quilter vs Zipper Cushion

I knew in my heart of hearts this wasn't going to be easy. I don't make clothes very often for a reason. I have gravitated to the quilting arena because zippers don't show up very often. However in slipcovers, zippers are inherent. I suppose I could put in hook and loop tape, but then I would have to change the patterns to reflect that and my patterns are awful enough as they are. They leave out so much that I'm almost pulling out my hair trying to figure out what to do. The book I'm using is called Custom Slipcovers Made Easy. There's nothing easy about it the way this is written since the author has assumed so much.

Ahh, but there's nothing now to do but go on since I've purchased the fabric and started. So gentle reader I tried to put the darn zipper in. You read about the trials and tribulations about getting the darn zipper put together. That done, I managed to use my trusty Steam-a-Seam2 to stick the zipper to the basted seam. Worked well enough, but then I made a fatal error - I waited overnight to actually sew the zipper in. At least I think that was the error. When I tried to open up the seam the next day, the darn thing was almost glued shut and my seam ripper actually ripped right through the zipper tape! I could have cried - or screamed. Maybe I did both.

 Crap, I now had to start all over again with a new length of zipper tape and I had to cut a new piece for the zipper to go into. I hate putting zippers in. Have I said that? Second time around it only took me 15 minutes to get the zipper put together - I'm getting faster. I did use the fusible tape again, but I didn't wait overnight to sew it. No problems. Whew!

Now onto sewing the welting onto main cushion pieces so it will go into the seam. I've never used welting before, so I follow my directions in my beloved book. It has pictures and all, but a big drawback. The fabric they decided to use looks the same on the front and back, so you can't tell the wrong side from the right side in the pictures. What mistake do you think I made when sewing on my welting? Right, I sewed it to the wrong side of the fabric. Bad part is that I didn't discover this until it was sewn onto the box band. By that time I was completely fried!

If the welting had been huge, I would have probably swallowed, waited till morning and pulled the whole thing apart yet again. But, my welting is very small, so it is now on the inside, quite invisible. This quilter gave up, I hate to say.

The cushion cover is complete and on. Not great, but okay. Lesson: not all things say quilts! Now, onward to the rest of the slipcover . . . ho ho!