No-measure, no sew stool cushions and Currently

Wow, I cannot believe it's July already! In less than a month, I'll be 30!

Also, because it's the first of the month, I've decided to hop on the "Currently" bandwagon and share what's been going on in this super random mind of mine. Make sure to check out some other Currently's from some of your other favorite bloggers!

At this moment, we're sitting in a hotel room in Las Vegas about half way through our vacation. And what am I doing? Blogging of course!! I couldn't go without sharing a bit about our vacation so far! We just spent the last week in Colorado riding horses, riding to the top of the mountains, and playing in the snow (in June!!). Having lived in AZ for the last 6 years, it was the first time our 3-year old got to see snow up close and actually play in it. Not so sure she liked it though :)

The downside of lots of traveling? Lots of things going through my mind that I have to get to when we get home. *sigh* Thankfully we still have a full week of break left when I get home!

Now, being a Monday, I'm also linking up again to do a Make-it Monday project.

This project is one that I am super proud of. There was no measuring and no sewing involved at all (my favorite kind of project!) So, as usual, this project came as a solution to a problem I had... my OCD brain wanted my classroom to be super cute. As we all know, when you're classroom is super cute, the rest of the year will fly by drama-free ;) Anyway, I have a rainbow shaped table in my classroom that had mismatched chairs around it that were hand-me-downs from other teachers last year. I wanted to do something like the adorable little padded crate seats but opted for something a little different. Hence...

...Ikea! Eight, cute, sturdy little white stools later and a little experimentation with some fleece and I had a cozy, kind of padded little seat for my kiddos. I had one done and decided they were so easy, I would share how I made them so others could enjoy!

First of all, put your stool upside-down on some paper and trace around the outside. It doesn't have to be perfect. Then, because I have 4 legs on my stools, I marked where those legs were for cutting purposes later.

Place your circle on top of 2 layers of fabric. I chose fleece because it's soft, it doesn't ravel when you cut it and it can be pretty cheap if you watch for it in the remnant bin of the craft store. Make sure you have at least 4 inches of space on each side of the circle. However much space you have is how long your ties are going to be. It's much easier to tie long ties and trim later than to cut them short and have to wrestle with short ties.

Once the circle is centered on the fabric cut from each of the four edges towards the marks you made on your circle stopping at the edge of your circle resulting in 4 equal sections.

 Cut each of the 4 sections down the center from the corner towards the circle essentially splitting your fabric into 8 sections instead of 4.

Cut each of the 8 sections in half again making 16 sections.

Then cut each of the 16 sections in half giving you 32 total.

Your fabric should look like this (and your hands may be a little sore... sorry).

Next, take the 4 longest sections and gather them in the center so they don't get tied by accident.

Choose one of the 4 remaining areas to start tying. I usually just double knot them and I have had no issues with them coming untied. When you have that one section done, it should look like the picture above.

Choose two more sections to tie off and then you can trim all three sections to whatever length you want. I like to leave mine a couple inches long so it has that ragged look.

Next comes the stuffing. I chose to use 3 thin layers of quilt batting so it doesn't get bunched up inside. You could also use stuffing or even fabric scraps. If you're using quilt batting, use your circle as a guide to cut but make sure your batting is a bit small than your circle so it will fit into your cushion properly.

Flip the top layer of ties onto the top of your circle so they are easier to manage. Obviously your batting is not going to slide right in. You should be able to take the side of the batting that is going to be on the far side in and push it all the way in. Then you can just straighten the rest out. If using stuffing, this is obviously the party where you add that.

An inside picture once the batting is in (please excuse my manly hands ;)

Once the batting/stuffing is in you can tie up that last section (except for the 4 long ties) and trim it up.

Now that the rest of the cushion is trimmed, you can tie those 4 long sections and those will be what hold your cushion to your stool.

Simply put your stool upside-down on the cushion...

...tie one set of ties...

...then the opposite side...

... then the last two sides.

Trim...

...and flip. Done!

Because I had 8 stools and my classroom is rainbow themed this upcoming year, I chose to do 2 blue, 2 red, 2 yellow, and 2 brown. Please excuse the mess. I still have 3 1/2 weeks until my kiddos come in for open house ;)

Hope this was helpful!
Katie Poyzer