When I was in college, I designed and built a variation of a Tête-à-tête. The purpose of the piece was to encourage conversation between the two people seated. This little sofa was extremely fun to make. All the walnut construction fits together perfectly without the use of any metal. Fortunately at the time, we had access to an amazing shop in order to build our projects including a CNC router which really made this possible.
One thing I didn’t have access to, was a sewing machine then. Although I’m still a beginner now, during that time I knew nothing about sewing or sewing patterns. One of my mother’s friends offered to help me out with the cushion covers. She did an amazing job, and I’m so thankful that she was able to help me.
After it was completed and moved into our apartment and eventually our house, it became a spot to curl up on and read a book or talk with people visiting our home. The dogs realized that this was their favorite place to take their toys. Graham particularly likes to nap on the circle cushion. As they made it their own, they did quite a number on the cushions including chewing on a corner while destroying a stuffed animal. Once the foam was discovered, it got worse. So finally, I decided to tackle reupholstering the cushion!
Alex and I visited Hancock Fabrics with the goal to find an alternative to the blue cushions (full disclosure: I’m trying to overcome an obsession with teal, mint, seafoam green, Tiffany blue, turquoise, and Aqua…) and we found the most amazing pattern marked 90% off. They only had 6 yards and since my original patterns were gone, we decided to get it and hope for the best. If it wasn’t enough we would have shirts and a skirt instead.
Luckily or unluckily for Alex (he really wanted a shirt) we had enough to fix the cushions. I pulled apart the cushions and Alex ironed them flat. After measuring, tracing, and a couple adjustments from the original, we had the pieces.
I started with the circle first since Graham really needed his spot back and it was the simplist. The other seat cushion not only needed new fabric but new foam as well. However, I couldn’t find foam wide enough this time, so I replaced the corner only. Trimmed the chewed bits, cut a fresh piece to butt up against it, and wrapped it together with the batting. It came out pretty smooth. The other two cushions were also pretty straightforward. After stuffing the cushions back in, I hand stitched the openings while watching old X-Files episodes.
Here’s the final product.
Doxies and DIY 