The Home Depot Fabric Department

Not a lot of selection, but just what I wanted for a home dec project.

My introduction to the idea of sewing on a paint drop cloth occurred when a new sewing friend showed her sweet embroidered pillow at a recent ASG neighborhood group meeting. And then my BSF told me she had heard of people using this stuff for upholstery. And now I remember that Diane Eriscon and others have talked about transforming used drop cloths into totes and other pieces.

It took two 6x9 drop cloths to cover my sun room love seats - one drop cloth each. Total investment = $20. Not really. I still ended up replacing the back cushions rather than using the pillow forms from the original. And there were the zippers and thread. My first time with cut-to-length zips. Love that!

Oh and the new rug.

DH was very sweet when he saw this in progress. He said, "I don't want to spoil your excitement, but have you noticed the color?" So diplomatic.

Yes, it's white, but entirely washable and if it gets too bad, then I will get the grands to help me decorate the fabric with fabric paint. That might be great fun, actually.

Final room - still a little cluttered but it is a playroom for the grands and it gets quite a lot of use.

Here is how it looked before:

I had just started replacing one side when I decided to take a picture!

This canvas-like fabric is a blend of polyester and cotton. After I washed and dried it, I liked the feel of it very much, despite the fact that I am normally snobbish about (not) sewing with poly-cotton blends. It could not have too much polyester because it took high heat and steam just great. In fact, it was kind of fun to sew.

Usually when I start a home dec sewing project, I end up bored or overwhelmed or both. Even simple curtains can be so BIG.

These pieces - 4 seat cushions and 4 back cushions - were not terribly overwhelming. And now that it is complete, I am above average happy with the result.

New love seats:

Old love seats:

And of course, I learned some things:

• Harvest the old fabric to use as a pattern.

• Use fusi-web to secure the zips before sewing them in. The existing covers had centered zips so I went with that technique. This is not my favorite zipper insertion but it was so easy using the fusi-web and no pins.

• Rather than individual zips, I bought an upholstery-weight roll of cut-your-own zips.

• Wrap a dry-cleaning bag around the cushion before putting it inside the new cover. Brute force was still required but so much easier. And the bag is easy to remove by simply ripping it.

I will cheerfully return to sewing garments now. I so admire those who do this kind of sewing regularly.