I made something! With my hands! And it's functional!

So my mama gave me these barstools when I got my first (off-campus) apartment; the cushions came with them.  I am fairly certain she bought them both at yard sales, maybe even at the same one.  I love the stools because they are real wood and heavy, but I did not love the cushions.

 They were too large, hanging off the edges and not tying properly to the chair.  I thought about getting new ones, but since these worked--they just weren't pretty--I didn't want to spend money.  However, once I got my sewing machine, I thought maybe, just maybe, I could make them over.  So I did!

ugly ties

 Sorry for the iPhone photos

You can see how these were hanging over the edges rather far.

 First, I used my seam ripper to take the cushions apart. I removed the stuffing before laundering the material.  After it was dry, I trimmed off fraying strings and ironed it.

 While my material was drying, I cut a template of the seat using newspaper.  I pinned it to the fabric to cut the appropriate shape.  The only thing I didn't do was take into consideration how thick I wanted to stuff it, so my pillows are higher and smaller than I thought they would be.

 After cutting one cushion (two pieces), I pinned them to the other fabric and cut the second cushion.

I picked up some grosgrain ribbon in green because I thought it was a good accent color, and I feel we need more green in our house.  I cut the ribbon longer than I planned to use (much longer) and pinned the ribbon after I decided how it should split, and then I ironed down the fold.

Then I pinned the ribbon ties where they should be, which is tricky because you are pinning them inside out, which means the ends should be inside between the two pieces of fabric.  I hope that makes sense.

I sewed one cushion, leaving an opening to stuff and backtracking (I can't remember if that is the appropriate seamstress term) when I started and when I ended so it wouldn't unravel.  Next, I placed the fabric in the seat to make sure the ties were in the correct place.  They weren't.  :(  Rather than ripping out everything, I just ripped out the thread before, over, and after the ties, repinned them, and resewed them.

Finally, I flipped the fabric right side up and began to stuff.  On one, I didn't make the opening quite large enough, so always make sure you leave an opening large enough.  It was tricky getting the fluffy stuff in there.

Once I stuffed them where I liked, I hand sewed them closed and tied them to the chairs:

They are a bit fluffier than I would like, but I think after we sit on them awhile, they will go down.  And I may sew some buttons through them to help flatten them as well.  But right now they work!

And they fit:

This shows how fluffy there are.  *lol*

Still, I think they look much better now:

I can't wait to do some more crafty projects in our house!