Another project I’ve been procrastinating on is the mattress cover for the guest bedroom. I cut the foam to size a while ago based on a pattern that I made on the actual boat, so that part was done, but honestly I found the sewing intimidating. It’s a large project and I wasn’t quite sure where to begin with it. The fabric I chose was striped, water resistant, ultra durable Sunbrella. (the stripes only because it was like 1/3 of the price of regular at Sailor’s Exchange!) I actually had the zippers already from an old fishing boat cover that we had back in Washington… this thing spent a few years folded under the patio in the rain and generally getting neglected until I dug it out, washed it off, and ripped all the fabric off of it. Luckily I kept the zippers because they were exactly what I needed!
To start, I had to clean the living room and clear a spot to work on the floor. It was immediately taken up by cats. Figures.
Eventually I got the fabric cut to size 1/2″ larger than the pattern that I had. Unfortunately I’m awful at measuring and didn’t quite have enough striped fabric for the side pieces. I had some old black canvas from making luggage for the bicycles that I used. Perfect!
From this point it was straightforward. All I had to do was meticulously apply the basting tape to hold the pieces together and do each side one by one until it was fully enclosed!
Rarely do things work out this well, but the fit is flawless with the foam stuffed inside!
So… that’s HALF of the mattress. 😉 It took me another few days to find the time to finish up the other half. Eventually I shooed the cats off of the fabric long enough to get it cut and sewn!
This piece was much harder than the last one. The corner has a curve cut out of it to fit around one of the cabinets and the entire top edge is rounded and angled to fit the curve of the hull. I had to just start one piece at a time and did the curve last. I also had to splice multiple pieces together to make the border because I ran out of fabric!
This side didn’t fit quite as sharp as the last one, probably due to all the weird angles, but it still looks pretty good! The cabinet cut out is a little loose, probably due to my cutting of the foam than anything else. Either way, I think it looks great and now it’s done and I don’t have to stress about it anymore! 🙂
Today we finally got to the point where we could drag the mattress chunks to the truck and take them to the boat! Not to toot my own horn or anything, but they fit awesome! It’s also super comfy for guests!
We only had the mattress in place in the aft cabin for a test fit and a few pictures then we had to drag it up to the forward cabin to get it out of the way since we still have work in the back of the boat. Either way, both cabins are now fully functional!