Time to sew

Even though our boat was around 13 years old when we bought her, the salon seats were in excellent condition (and believe it or not the stove had never been used!) but this summer after just a couple of days on board with a dog, I knew we were in trouble.

Don't let the innocent face fool you! When this guy gets a case of the zoomies, he uses the settee as a combination catapult and padded cell.

He leaps to the floor, then springs back up on the settee, back to the floor... This means he uses his nails to gain traction, and combined with the slightly open weave in the fabric cushions, I knew it wouldn't be long before they would be in shreds.

The only solution at the time was to cover the cushions with whatever I had on hand which at that time was this yellow blanket.

After just one day of Wilbur zoomies, the entire salon area was covered in yellow fuzzies.

The yellow blanket wasn't big enough so I had to cover the remaining area with a red fleece throw. It too ended up covered in yellow fuzzies.

By the end of the trip I was sick to death of this awful combination and vowed I'd take care of it before we set sail again this fall. It wasn't until the day we were leaving the boat that I realized I had no tape measure and ended up using a dollar bill for all my measurements (that's 6 inches in case you're wondering).

So with these totally (I'm sure!) accurate numbers I finally got down to work today and started ripping the heck out of a couple of old king size sheets. I think what I found to be so satisfying was the fact that all I had to do was make a snip at the edge of the sheet and then rrrrriiippp!! Those sheets must have been well made and perfectly on grain because they tore into wonderfully straight pieces.

Of course the cushions couldn't be just simple rectangles and I won't go into their whole dynamic except to say that they are of the tongue and groove school of design. Meaning the back cushions have an extension that goes down behind the bottom seat cushions in order to create a secure hold.

See I went and got into too many details anyway!

Believe me, these are not fitted covers. They are gathered with elastic on the back and I only hope they will stretch fully across the front and not need to be constantly tweaked and adjusted!

I did get them sewn and even added corner 'tucks' for hopefully, a better fit.

Don't worry, if they aren't right you'll all be the first to know, and you won't even have to read about it here as I believe my screams of anguish will probably be heard around the world.

But just in case you think I had a totally successful day of sewing let me put your mind at ease. I also sewed elastic onto all four corners of two fitted sheets (that came with the boat) in order to keep them from constantly pulling out during the night. It wasn't until I'd sewn the last corner on the last sheet that I realized using clear elastic for this project was a complete failure.

The elastic ripped at the slightest pressure and now I'll have to replace all of it with the sturdy white stuff that I don't have enough of (and yes I often end sentences with prepositions!).

So in the words of Scarlett O'Hara, "I'll think about it tommorow!"