make your own good fortune

Here are the instructions for making a Good Fortune card and envelope.  As always, let me know if anything is unclear and send me a pic or a link if you make one — I’d love to see what you come up with!

To make this project, you will need an 8.5″ x 11″ piece of white cardstock, three small pieces of light brown scrapbooking paper, a piece of regular 8.5″ x 11″ printer paper, a smidge of glue, assorted Chinese-themed stamps, and a red ink stamp pad.

Download the envelope template here:
Good Fortune Envelope.

This is a pdf file so you will need the free Adobe Acrobat reader to open and print the template.  (If you have trouble printing this file, make sure you have the most current version of the Acrobat reader installed.)  When you print the pattern, make sure your printer doesn’t “scale” the pages (i.e., “shrink to fit”) or the pattern will come out a bit on the small side.   This template fits exactly on an 8.5″ x 11″ piece of paper — if your printer won’t print all the way to the edges of the paper, you may have to sketch them in by hand.

1. Print out the template.  If you don’t want the fold lines printed on your cardstock, print the template on a regular piece of paper and use this as a pattern to trace onto the cardstock with pencil that you will erase later.  If you don’t mind the fold lines, print the template directly onto the cardstock.

2. Stamp the template as desired.  If you don’t have stamps (I found these at Jo-Ann’s), you could print images from the internet, draw images by hand, or carve stamps of your own.  Since the flaps will fold over to create the envelope, you need to stamp them upside-down when the envelope is unfolded (see pic).

3. Cut out the envelope, score the fold lines, and erase any pencil marks.

4. If you have a hard time getting the interlocking tabs to hook together, you may need to shave a tiny bit off of the inside of the “hook.”  Don’t shave off too much though, or your envelope won’t close fully.

5. To make the cookies, cut out circles that are approximately 2.75″ diameter from the brown paper — I traced around a jar lid.

6. Use a toothpick to put a thin smidge of glue along the outside of 1/3 of the circle (refer to picture below), then glue the two sides together, leaving a gap for the fortune.  Pinch one end of the circle but don’t fold it completely in half, so it retains a bit of of a cookie shape.  Use clothespins or paper clips to hold the circles until dry. 

7. Type up your fortunes on the computer with whatever messages you want to send.  The easiest way to make correctly-aligned two-sided slips is to center the text.  You can google “Chinese translation” and the desired phrase for the “Learn Chinese” part on the back.  I used my niece’s birthdate and her current birthday and age for her “Lucky Numbers.” 

8. Tuck the slips into the cookies.  (Since I was mailing her card, I put a smidge of glue on each to hold them in place but it held them too well, so I don’t recommend doing this!  If you are mailing your card, I’d recommend wrapping it in tissue paper and using a box so it doesn’t get smashed flat.)  Put the cookies in the envelope and voila!  You are done!

 

simply striped

before

I think it’s safe to say that in 42 years, the phrase, “I love my bathmat,” has never crossed my lips.  Bathmats are functional and not much more.  My old one was getting pretty ratty and all of the non-stick stuff on the back had crumbled away.  I have this old clawfoot tub and climbing out of it can be a little dangerous if the floor gets wet and the bathmat goes sliding across the slippery floor.  (I hate to just toss the old one in a landfill but I think it’s too ratty for donation….any ideas on what to do with it??)

At Jo-ann’s, I came across this “Grip-Tight” fabric (in the “Utility Fabrics” section) which is coated with rubber dots.  I think it’s intended for making footie-pajamas, but it occurred to me that it would make a good base for a new bathmat, so I decided to try making my own.  You could also use one of those non-slip rug pads.  Either way, you’ll get a much longer life out of it if you don’t put it in the dryer. 

after

If you’d like to make a bathmat of your own, I’ve included a tutorial below.  I used muted colors and batiks so it would go with my bathtowels, but this would be fun in bright prints or solids as well.  This project is simple and satisfying — you will be able to finish it in a couple of evenings.  I’m not sure how durable this will be so if you have a large household, you will want to use more heavy-duty fabrics than I have used here.  But I am so pleased with the results that I can actually say that I love my bathmat — go figure.

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Simple striped bathmat
These instructions will make a bathmat that is approximately 22″ by 30″ but you can easily change the dimensions with a little math.  As always, let me know if anything is unclear!

For this project, you will need:

• Assuming your fabric is at least 44″ wide, 1/3 yard each of light- and medium-toned fabric and 1/4 yard of dark fabric (you will have some leftovers of each after you cut).
• An old terrycloth bathtowel or a piece of terrycloth that is at least 22″ x 30″ (you can piece this together since it will not be visible).
• Grip-Tight is only 15″ wide, so if you use this, you will need to purchase two yards and piece it together; otherwise, purchase a non-slip rug mat that is at least 22″ x 30″.
• At least 115″ of double-fold bias tape — if you purchase tape, one pack (4 yards) will be plenty.  The width depends on how thick your layers are.  Wider binding is easier to work with, so if you’ve never used binding before or are using a thick terrycloth layer, go for the 1″ or 1 and 1 /2″ binding.
• Don’t forget thread!  There is a tiny bit of quilting involved so you’ll want some corresponding thread.

Cut four 4″ x 22″ pieces from the light fabric;  three 4″ x 22″ pieces from the medium fabric; and six 1.5″ x 22″ pieces from the dark fabric.  Wait to cut the middle and backing layers until you have pieced the top in case your stitches are not perfectly measured and it comes out a bit longer or shorter than you expected. 

Using a 1/4″ seam, sew the top pieces together then press your seams.  I pressed mine open as I wanted them to lay completely flat, but you can press them to the side if that is your preference.  (The quickest, easiest way to piece the top is to first sew three darks and three mediums together, and three darks and three lights together.  Feed them through the machine one after the other then clip them apart afterwards.  Press the seams, then join these pieces together, making sure to do so in the correct order.  Finish by pressing the second set of seams.)

I added a middle layer of terrycloth so the mat would be absorbent and have a bit of cush under my feet.  Ideally, you would recycle an old towel for the middle layer, but I didn’t have any so I purchased some new terrycloth.  Pin your top to the terrycloth and trim to size.  Quilt as desired.  I just did a couple of straight lines through the medium strips (almost impossible to see in the above pic, sorry).

If you are using Grip-Tight, cut and join the fabric so you end up with a large enough piece.  Grip-Tight is very thick, so I sewed the edges of the seam down to keep them flat.  (Ok, here’s the dirty little secret of this project: Grip-Tight is not the easiest fabric to work with.  Those little dots are tough!  Perservere and be patient, you can do this!)

Place the top-middle layers right-side up on top of your bottom layer (right-side down) and pin it together.  Stitch around the outside edge, close enough to the edge that these stitches will be hidden by the binding, then trim the bottom layer to size.

For the final step, attach the binding.  Now there are a couple of ways to do this.  The first is the method I used — attaching the binding to the front by machine, then sewing it to the back by hand.  Heather Bailey offers a printable guide to this method here.  This method is more time-consuming and hand-stitching through the rubber dots has the potential to make you a bit crazy (with very sore fingers), so feel free to do it all by machine as is wonderfully demonstrated in this video tutorial from Amy Karol of the Angry Chicken.

Hey look — you’re done!  Whoo hoo!  A new bathmat!

 

christmas prezzies 7 (finale)

My favorite project for Christmas was this personalized playmat for my little nephew.  Just shy of two and a half, he loves to play with cars and trucks and little figures — especially firemen, he’s obsessed with firemen.  He is very focused and intent while he plays, telling himself a little story about his firemen or sometimes singing faintly.  (I asked him, “What is that song you are singing?” and he sang for me, “Old McDonald…E I E I O…bah bah sheep everywhere…”  Ohhh, the sweetness of it,  you could die.)  When I saw them in November, my sister-in-law and I talked about playmat possibilities for him.  When she said she wasn’t going to make one for him, I jumped on the chance.  The image of this playmat came to me almost at once and it really was a piece of cake to put together (though I never could get a great picture of it).  Here’s how to do it if you’d like to make one for a little person in your life.  (I’d love to know if you make one, so leave me a comment and a link to a picture if you have one.  And, as always, let me know if anything is unclear.)

Make a pattern on cardstock for the houses.  (I used my 4.5″ and my 2.5″ quilting squares, but this isn’t necessary, you can just measure it out.)  As you can see in the picture, the bottom of the house is a 4.5″ square and its 7″ to the peak of the roof.  (Draw a 4.5″ square, then mark a point 2.5″ above the center of the top line; draw diagonals from the top corners to that point to make your roof.)  Cut out houses from from assorted colors of wool felt (so you don’t have to worry about finishing the edges, which would be a big pain in the patootie), then cut out 2.5″ windows (look at the next two pictures).  Just center the windows by eye, they don’t need to be perfectly lined up.  (I order my felt from the fantastic Wool Felt Central – over 60 shades of wool felt, great prices and service — I can’t praise them enough!)

How many houses?  I cut out nine.  Yeah, so about this number: I counted the houses of my nephew’s family (his own house, both sets of grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousin), which came to seven.  Did I mistakenly cut nine, or do it on purpose so I could add a house for Sesame Street and for the beloved firemen?  I can’t remember, but that’s what happened and it worked out nicely.  I’m going to use “nine” in the rest of this tutorial, but if you are making your own, substitute the number of houses you want. 

Cut out nine 4.5″ squares from a medium-weight clear vinyl (which I found in the home decor section of Joann’s).  Line up the vinyl and use binder clips to hold it onto the felt.

Use cream-colored thread to stitch carefully around the window and across the bottom (only, not the whole house).  You will need to use a teflon/non-stick foot with the vinyl.  If you are using a non-stick foot, sew with the vinyl side up.  If you don’t have a non-stick foot, you can put a piece of wax paper (or other thin paper) between the vinyl and your sewing machine, sew through it all (vinyl side down), then carefully rip off the paper.  In either case, pull the threads through to the back and tie them off.

Next, lay out your houses on a piece of paper that is the same size as you want your playmat to be.  My mat was going to be a three-foot square and I used the back of wrapping paper.  Figure out where your roads will go, if they will lead off the mat, etc.  I wanted three roads leading off the edges of the mat so my nephew could incorporate his other toys, like his fire station and barn.  You want to make sure to leave at least an inch or more between the houses and the edge of the fabric, so there is room to hem it.  Once you’ve figured out a good layout, draw it and cut it out.

I was lucky to find a huge piece of felt on sale for a couple of bucks but you can easily piece felt together — just overlap the ends and zig-zag to secure.  I used plain old poly felt for this — I went with nicer wool felt for the houses because it comes in more and “more better” colors and is a bit thicker.  (This proved to be fun with my nephew because I would ask him who lived in the red house, the pink house, etc.)

Cut your background fabric to size.  I used a three-foot square of a sweet kelly green mini-dot print.  (I love this fabric!)  Before sewing, line up the roadway and the houses on the background fabric and make sure it all fits.  You  may find you need to trim here and there to get everything to fit with enough space for a hem all around.  (As you can see in this picture, I had to trim the driveway to the blue house to leave enough room at the edge.)

Once you’ve got it lined up to your satisfaction, pin the heck out of the roadway so it won’t shift as you stitch it down.  Slowly and carefully stich around all of the edges with black thread.  You can stitch the yellow center line by hand or machine.  (My machine has a nice thick triple-stitch, so I used that.)  Pull all threads to the back and tie them off.

Now, line up your houses and carefully stitch around the sides and the top with cream-colored thread to create a pocket.  Line up your stitches with those along the bottom to create the appearance of one continuous stitch.  Pull the threads to the back and tie them off.  (I designed this with pockets so the pictures can be changed.  My nephew will have a new sibling in the spring, or maybe his aunt –his other unmarried aunt — or uncle will get married sometime.)  If you want to add any other embellishments, do it now.  (I just added a heart to the center, but you could do flowers or trees or whatever you like.)

Next, sew on the backing fabric (I used a heavy twill).  Sew the front and the back right-sides together, leaving about 8-12 inches for turning.  Turn right-side out, press the edges, then carefully stitch around the edge of the mat, closing the gap as you do so.

For the final step, print out photos and cut them to fit into the pockets.  I couldn’t get a great picture of the full playmat, but here it is with the photos. 

My nephew’s reaction was to immediately lay down on it and start pointing at the pictures, which I took to be the almost 2 and 1/2 year-old way of saying, “Awesome!”

Not sure you have the time or energy to make this?  Hop on over to my shop and you’ll find them for sale!

 

christmas prezzies 6 + 1 for you!

For years, my Grandma Annie and Aunt Ruth would give me those crocheted hanging dishtowels every Christmas, so they hold a special place in my heart.  The hanging dishtowels you find at craft fairs tend towards the “country kitchen” style, so when my mom said that she had seen some fabric ones and thought it would be a great Christmas gift,  it seemed like a good opportunity to make something more contemporary.  I played dumb and told my mom to snap a picture of the one she had bought so I could see what she meant, but I went ahead and designed my own.   

It was funny on Christmas Eve day when I arrived at my parents’ house and saw the hanging dishtowel she had purchased in the kitchen.  “Oh, so that’s what you meant,” I said, “I wish you had remembered to send me a picture.”  Darn.  I had to turn away so she wouldn’t see me smiling, because little did she know that two sets of dishtowels were wrapped up under the tree.  She was pretty happy with them because the fabric colors and designs are more in tune with her own style. 

I have a couple of friends who are learning to sew, so I’m drawing up some simple patterns of the things I make.  Since I couldn’t find a tutorial or pattern for this style of hanging dishtowel on the web, I thought I would also make my pattern available to all of you as a little belated holiday gift.  It’s a pdf file so you will need the free Adobe Acrobat reader to open and print the pattern, which includes all of the instructions written below (without the pictures).  

If you are not planning on making a hanging dishtowel, you’ll want to stop reading now because what follows are pretty detailed instructions.  Since I’m trying to help out my newbie sewist friends, I tried to be pretty explicit about the steps, but if anything at all is unclear, please do let me know! 

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Download pattern here: Hanging dishtowel pattern2.
When you print the pattern, make sure your printer doesn’t “scale” the pages (i.e., “shrink to fit”) or the pattern will come out a bit on the small side.   

To make two hanging dishtowels, I used one purchased 24” x 15” dishtowel, 2 pieces of 7” x 12” fabric, one piece of 7” x 12” flannel, and two buttons.  Don’t forget to pre-wash and dry everything to pre-shrink it! 

Edited to add:  It’s come up in the comments, so I want to mention here that you don’t need to use the flannel interfacing if you don’t want to.  I wanted these to be extra sturdy, hence the added layer, but you can just go ahead and make it without if you prefer.  Have fun!

Preparing the dishtowel: 

1. Cut your purchased dishtowel in half so there are two 12” x 15” pieces. 

2. Carefully pleat, fold, or gather the 15” raw edge so that it measures 6” across.  Stitch pleats/folds/gathers in place. 

I pleated this by eye, fiddling with it until it was even and measured six inches across.

To make the handles: 

1. Print out the pattern pieces and cut them out.
2. Overlap the TABs and glue or tape the pieces together. 

I printed mine onto cardstock so it would be easier to trace around and stand up to mulitple uses.

 3. Use the pattern to cut out four pieces of fabric and two pieces of flannel.
4. Pin the pieces together in this order: one piece of fabric, right-side up; one piece of fabric, right-side down; one piece of flannel.  (Do this twice since you are making two handles.)
5. Starting at point A, stitch around the handle to point B, leaving the bottom open.  Clip the corners and turn right-side out. 

6. Press so that all the edges are crisp, then turn in a one-inch hem along the open bottom and press. 

The one-inch hem will make sure it stands up to daily use and repeated washings.

Fold the flannel to one side or the other, it doesn't matter which.

 Assemble and finish: 

1. Insert the raw pleated/folded/gathered edge of the dishtowel into the open base of the handle so that it lays a full inch inside.  Sew at least two rows of stitches to hold it in place.  (Remember that people will be tugging on this as it hangs in the kitchen so it must be well-stitched!) 

Normally, I would use coordinating thread to hide the stitches, but I used white here so they would show up better.

2. Center your button on the pointed flap (point C) and mark lines for the buttonhole.  Make the buttonhole on the flap. 

Again, this would look better with coordinating thread.

(Ah, buttonholes!  Along with zippers, they are one of the most daunting tasks for the new sewer!  This is a good project to learn on because, after all, it’s just a dishtowel.  Once it’s stained with coffee and barbeque sauce, your wonky buttonhole won’t matter a bit.  I suggest following the directions that [hopefully] came with your machine — that’s how I learned.  Here are a couple of links from Sew Mama Sew that might be helpful:  Buttonholes 1 and Buttonholes 2.  Here’s one for hand-sewing a buttonhole from CraftStylish.  Just keep practicing — like any skill, that is the only way you are going to improve.) 

3. Fold the flap over so the point lines up with the bottom edge of the wide base of the handle.  Use a pin or mark with pencil where the button should go on the wide base and sew on the button. 

4. Fini!  Hang your dishtowel and admire.  

5. Wash your hands – it’s flu season!

You could use a heavy-duty snap or velcro if you don’t like to make buttonholes.  It would be cute to use coordinating fabrics on the front and back of the handle, so when you fold it over, you see both fabrics.  A scrappy handle would be sweet as well. 

This pattern should be considered copyrighted (some wretch of a human being was copying free patterns from u-handblog and elsewhere and selling them on etsy, can you imagine?!), but I know a lot of crafters are looking for simple projects to sell at craft fairs, so feel free to sell any hanging dishtowels you make from it!  Just send me a picture so I can see your handiwork! 

And please check out my new etsy shop:

kleio's belly on etsy!

 

the 10-minute, no-glue postcard frame

There are plenty of far nicer hand-crafted frame tutorials out there, but this is probably the fastest one you’ll ever make.  It’ll take you longer to read these directions than make one.  I came up with this design because the piece of cardboard that I used to make the original one was shaped like the piece in the third photo here.

Materials:  wire & wire cutters, pencil, exacto knife, triangle or square, postcard or photo (this one is the October 2008 Pie of the Month from the Pie of the Month Club), and a box that’s the size you want your frame to be (I’m using the one my camera came in).  You could use a flat piece of cardboard too, of course; in that case, you’ll need to score the folds.  I think you could also use string if you don’t have wire.  Try it and see!

Unfold your cardboard box and assess.

Since mine already had some cuts along the sides, I used those as my guide for how wide my side flaps would be.  The width of the side flaps will determine how far your frame will project from the wall.  Trim down the cardboard til you’re left with this:

Figure out how big of an opening you need for your card.  My postcard was 4.5″ x 6″ so I cut an opening that was 4″ x 5.25″.  You’ll have to do a bit of math and measuring to get it properly centered. 

Fold the sides up and use your exacto knife to cut a little notch at each corner to hold the wire.  I eyeballed this — about 1/8″ or so…

 Tape your postcard in the frame.  (You could glue it if you want it to be permanently affixed, but then it wouldn’t be a no-glue frame, would it?  I used painter’s tape.)  Cut a piece of wire that’s long enough to go around the frame with some extra for twisting the ends together to make a hanger.  Wrap the wire, scooching it into the notches so it doesn’t slip off.  Pull it pretty snug.

Twist the wires together in the center of the top flap.  Just keep twisting til you have enough to bend and make a hanger, maybe 1″ or 1.5″.  Cut the ends, bend your hanger, and voila.

Stand back and admire your thriftiness.  (If you were really frugal, you could get the wire out of one of the bazillion extra cables that came with your electronica.)  It would also look nice to wrap the wire around a couple of times (though that would be less thrifty).

 

how to make a potholder

Note: Steps 1-7 are for beginning crafters only; advanced crafters should skip ahead to #8.

1) Put the kettle on for tea.

2) Go read a really good book or start surfing the internet.

3) Realize that you’ve let the kettle boil dry.

4) The kettle will be piping hot, so put it on a hotpad to cool down and go back to what you were doing.

5) Occasionally remark to yourself about the funny smell.  <shrug>

6) Go back to what you were doing.

7) Pick up kettle.  <smack forehead>  D’oh!

 

8) Purchase batting that has been specially treated for use in potholders.  I used Insul-Bright brand; the side coated with a silvery film needs to face out, so for a potholder, use two squares back-to-back.  (It’s good to use a double thickness regardless of what brand you use.)  You may want to use heat-resistant fabric for the outside — I used plain cotton.  Wool or linen would also work but don’t use any kind of polyester/polyester blend as poly has a tendency to melt when it comes in contact to heat.  (ouch!)  You should be able to make at least two potholders out of one fat quarter depending on the size of your potholders.  (You can also use a skinny quarter, no worries!)

9) Cut out your batting and fabric.  Since I wanted my potholders to be 7″ square, I cut out four 7″ squares from the batting and four 8″ squares from the fabric (to make two potholders). 

10) If you don’t want a loop for hanging, skip ahead to the next step.  Otherwise, cut two small (3″-3.5″) pieces from ribbon.  (If you don’t have ribbon, you could use bias tape/binding or make your own with a leftover strip of your potholder fabric.)   Mark the halfway point on one side of the fabric and stitch the loop down on the right side of the fabric as shown.

11) Put your fabric right sides together and stitch 1/4″ around the edge, leaving a 4″ gap at the bottom.  (Marked with pins in this photo.) 

12) Clip the corners and turn right side out.  Press, then insert the batting.  You’ll need to fiddle with it a bit to get it to lie flat and centered.  Then carefully stitch around the outside of the potholder, close enough to the edge to stitch the gap closed.  Quilt as desired, but note that every line of stitching is a row of holes for the heat to sneak through.  I kept my quilting to a minimum, just a second row of stitching around the outside.

13) Test out your new potholders by trying to make tea again.  Try to pay more attention to the kettle this time. 

14) Consider buying a kettle that whistles.

 

embracing imperfection — finishing the chair cushion

With the chunky piping, hand-basting the welt to the top seems to be mandatory.  The chunky piping makes it a bit hard to stitch on the machine, even with the basting, but perservere!  You can do it!  I had to sew two pieces together to make a welt long enough to go around my cushion, so before I started sewing, I estimated where the seams would land – I wanted them fairly evenly distributed on either side of the cushion.  Once I got it all basted, I ran it through the machine….um, twice, ’cause I didn’t do a very good job the first time.  The stitches need to be right up against the piping, without actually going through it.  The bottom, however, can be pinned instead of basted, as you don’t have that troublesome piping to contend with.  I stitched the straight side first:

attaching the bottom

 Then pinned the heck out of the curved side:

lots o' pins

I used a 5/8 seam allowance since I had cut my welt so wide (and now that I have my pillow together, I sort of wish I had made the welt even shallower so the cushion would fit in a bit snugger, but c’est la vie).  Once it’s all stitched, rip out the red basting stitch and turn your pillow inside out.  You could iron it if you wanted, but you’re just going to wrinkle it by sitting on it, so why bother?  Stuff in your chair pad and have a seat! 

my office chair

My chair cushion is slightly wonky, but so am I, so I am embracing it’s imperfections.  I made the back cushion a couple of months ago when I moved in (I had tried to recycle my other seat cushion and was not happy with the results, hence the new seat cushion).  Here is the coordinating curtain, using this idea for reverse applique:

work it.

*If you have any questions about any of the steps, please ask!

 

making the bottom of the chair cushion

I like to make removeable cushion covers because even if I have a washable chair pad, it seems like a good idea to be able to take it out of the cover and wash the two seperately; I’ll also be able to replace the chair pad as needed.  I could insert a zipper along the welt (the side panel) of the cushion if I had one that was long enough, but I find it easier (and less expensive) to make an envelope-style cushion.  Here is how I constructed the bottom for an envelope-style opening.

First, I measured my paper pattern (I could also measure the bottom of the chairpad) at the widest points; it was 14.5″ deep by 16.5″ wide.  Then I added an inch to each measurement for the seam allowance and another 4 inches to the 1st measurement, ending up with 19.5″ (14.5 + 1 + 4) by 17.5″ (16.5 +1).  I cut a rectangle this size out of the canvas, then cut this into two pieces horizontally, roughly where I wanted the opening to land on the bottom of the cushion (I aimed to have it land right where the curve starts at the back of the cushion):

side view

This is not a very instructive picture because I took it from the side:  the right-hand edge here is actually the front of the cushion.  You see that I’ve also drawn a line one-inch from the edges of the cut.  I folded and ironed along this line, then stitched it down for a hem (since I’m using canvas, there is no right and wrong side of the fabric, but this would be the wrong side if there were one).  Then I completely overlapped the two hems and machine-basted them together using red thread so it will be easier for me to remove later:

overlap the pieces and baste together

By basting the two pieces together, I have one large piece for the bottom, which will make assembling the cushion much easier.  I traced around the pattern and cut out the bottom, again making sure to leave a good seam allowance.  Here is the bottom piece after it’s been cut out:

chair cushion bottom

My chair pad is two inches deep, so I cut out a three-inch strip of fabric (actually two pieces since my fabric wasn’t long enough) for the welt.  The cushion is ready to be assembled:  I have a top piece with piping attached, chair pad, bottom piece and welt:

cushion parts