We own a beautiful Bliss couch from West Elm - a comfortable and a fairly handsome piece. I picked it for the continuous seat cushion and bed pillow like back cushions. Sleeping on this couch is better than a futon.

Unfortunately, the quality is lacking. Maybe that was why we got it on sale. The cushions and pillows are lined in a very porous synthetic fabric so the down feathers (I should say down and feathers, because there are plenty of quills) are always poking through.

I've taken to collecting them in a little bag, but plenty of them end up on clothes in the laundry, when we sweep the floor, and in strange crevices.


I did some research on feather ticking and found bleached featherproof cotton ticking from OnlineFabricStore. The fabric is fairly close knit but felt a bit like sheeting and looks like better quality muslin, so I wasn't sure how it would perform.

Using this fabric calculator from Sailrite I was able to calculate a purchase of 17 yards. I sewed them with as little seams as possible, just a basic straight stitch to join the pieces, folded over and stitched again. Since the lining is hidden I just compressed the pillows and zipped up the sides to seal it with straight and zigzag stiches. Cutting the fabric based on the diagram, I had very little fabric leftover, just a couple of long strips.


We've been testing the couch for about a week and we have been prickle free!


I also bought some rubbery drawer liner so the seat cushion doesn't slide off. It's been several weeks and so far we haven't had to adjust the cushion once. Aggravation, denied.

The Juki still handles everything well, but I keep having bobbin winding problems. Meaning, at some point the bobbin thread will catch and jam. Rethreading/tension/foot pressure/fabric change does nothing. The only thing that works is changing the bobbin. But both bobbins look fine to me...