We have a large window in our living room that the puppies love.
Early on, I bought marine vinyl to protect the cushion on that window seat. The cushion protects the wood from the puppies’ nails.
Marine vinyl is the stuff used to make seat cushions on boats. It is thick/sturdy, water proof fabric. I bought it at JoAnn’s. I bought enough length to cover the window seat plus a little extra on both ends.
We then spent months straightening the marine vinyl that was just wrapped around the window seat cushion loosely.
Finally, a few weeks ago, I took the matter in hand.
I laid the vinyl on the floor, right side down, and put the cushion on top of it. I then carefully wrapped the vinyl around it to see just how close the two edges were to touching in the back. It was shockingly close, like just a 4-5” gap.
I added about an 1” to my calculations and then went to hunt for something sturdy in my sewing supplies to bridge the gap.
I found a long piece of canvas and cut a 10’ x 5-6” strip. I can’t remember the exact numbers.
I was able to sew through the vinyl fairly easily. The only difficulty was the awkwardness of the huge volume of stiff vinyl fabric on my little sewing table.
Youngest was home, so after I sewed the vinyl into a large tube with the muslin filing in the gap, I flipped it right side out and started feeding the cushion through the long tube. Youngest stuck her arms up into the tube and pulled the cushion while I guided it from the other end. The vinyl is slick, it slid in surprisingly easily.
I did not sew the ends. We just tuck them under.
This was a very quick project. And it is very nice to have the cushion stay tidy all the time. As long as we have dogs, the vinyl will stay in place. If I was ordering cushions now, for another house, I would use marine vinyl. It is very sturdy.
I still have to adjust the vinyl, but now it is just every few weeks.
The canvas/gap fill started out in the center bottom/underside of the cushion. The puppies, jumping up, nudge it every time they jump up, so the canvas/gap fill slides to the front over time.
Then I flip the whole thing to put the canvas on the bottom against the window wall. When I start to see canvas peeking out the front edge, I flip it again. It takes several weeks.
