The cat cushion is finished!
The core of the cat cushion is a piece of a foam mattress. I've found it's actually cheaper to buy a mattress and cut it up for projects like these than to buy just the foam in the same size.
I use a kitchen knife to cut through the foam after using a permanent marker to mark out the size. Long strokes with the knife works better that a sawing action which tends to leave the edge a bit jagged. Not that that matters much in this case.
I cut the foam slightly smaller than the nook it's meant for simply because of the next step involving batting which will make the finished thing fit more snugly.
I used the cut piece of foam as a template and cut a sort of cross shape out of the foam. The three short flanges are for three of the sides of the cushion and the longer bit is for the forth side and top. The dirt marks and holes were made by my mom's Afghan dog, Rahma, who used the mattress as his doggy bed on a visit and insisted on removing the fleece cover I had tucked around it...
I simply folded the longer bit over to meet the batting at the other end and stitched it shut.
Then I did the same for the short ends and the cushion itself was ready to be covered.
This is my first attempt at piping so I don't feel I'm the right person to write a tutorial on making the cover for the cushion but there are others who have done great jobs on cover how-to's so I'll just link to their sites.
Here's the how-to for a cushion similar to mine and here's a really simple version of a cushion. I also found this tutorial helpful for the piping itself. I went for quite a thick piping where the cord is about 9 mm or 3/8" in diameter.
I used 100% linen fabric. I wanted a neutral color for the cushion so it would go with whatever accent color I chose on sofa pillows etc. It's not a color I'd normally go for but I figured white is not a good choice since this is made for Mini and Bonus and their not always clean little paws and linen is kind of forgiving in terms it's already dirty-ish color.
So what's the little white bag for? I sewed a little linen bag and filled it with catnip. The bag is now under the cover, enticing Mini and Bonus to find their way into their little nook. Mini has tried it once as seen in this blurred shot. It did take our kitties about two years to find this cat bed attractive enough for use so I guess we'll have to be patient.
Meanwhile Wille likes to stick his feet in there, so again linen was a good choice.
