Only because this project has been consuming my hours for the last 3 days, I am going to show (brag) about my latest sewing adventure. If I had a sewing machine aboard, this would be a laughable little afternoon project. But when every. single. stitch. has to be hand-sewn, the v-berth suddenly seems enormous.
The Project: To make a cover for the foam mattress in the v-berth (we assume the previous owner replaced the foam but never had a chance to get it upholstered… so we’ve been sleeping on mish-mashed-wrapped-up foam for the last 3 months, and I was getting sick of it), and for the little insert pillow piece.
The fabric store in Mazatlan, full of potential projects
Once we’d picked a fabric, I brought it home and started hacking it up. I’m not really one for patterns, and this usually works out okay — enough pinning and pen marks and it all turns out fine in the end. Then stitch stitch stitch stitch stitch stitch stitch…
Stitching away another corner
The finished cushion for the v-berth (missing the little insert piece).
It’s worth mentioning at this point that our v-berth cushion didn’t start life this thickness. I might have told you this before, but when I arrived in San Carlos and was alone for a few days, I got up to all sorts of mischief and fun: Such as chopping our v-berth cushion in half (thickness-wise). *Most* people are trying to add thickness to their mattresses, but in our case our 5″ thick mattress was literally making it an athletic feat to get in and out of bed. So I grabbed a hacksaw, and hacked it in half.
It made a hell of a mess.
(But the v-berth cushion is now the perfect thickness AND we can get in and out of bed comfortably!).
And the final, finished product:
Feeling pretty happy with my newly-covered v-berth cushions!
So interesting to see what you’ve done with our sister boat!! We started out sleeping in our V-berth, but, like yours it was too high for all of us (Grizzly put lots of claw marks in the interior wood to get up there each night) and it made bathroom stops in the middle of the night quite and event. Plus, not enough foot room with what we call the “sailbin” to starboard!!! We have a 5″ high density foam fully upholstered in velvet cushion sitting in storage, would love to send it to you… but of course you’ve got yours perfect now ;). We now use the V-berth for storage and sleep in the main salon when at anchor- put the table down, add slats to connect the double berth on the port and single on starboard and sleep across the boat in a queen sized bed. Keep up the great posts. La vida es buena en Mexico!!