How to Make Chair Cushions

Making your own chair cushions is a quick and relatively easy sewing project that can make your chairs more comfortable while adding a bit of color and a personal touch to your living area. You could even make a few different sets of chair cushions, to alternate when they need to be cleaned or change with the seasons. These cushions tie on to the chair in two places, so make sure that your chairs have a place to attach the cushions before you start.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Fabric
• Quilt batting
• Needle and thread
• Sewing machine (optional)
• Scissors
• Pins (optional)
• Regular or tracing paper
• Pencil
• Ruler (optional)
• Compass (optional)
• Iron (optional)

1. Design the cushions. If you want round or square cushions, measure the seat of the chair and decide what size of square or circle you will need. Use the ruler or compass to draw the correct size of square or circle on paper. If the chair is a more organic shape, place your paper (tracing paper works especially well for this) on the seat of the chair and draw the shape of cushion that you want to make. When you have the cushion shape, draw a second line half an inch outside the first. This will be the cutting line, allowing extra room at the edge for sewing.
2. Draw a rectangle about 3 inches by 12 inches on paper. This will be the strap pattern.
3. Put the patterns on the fabric and cut out two pieces of the seat shape and four strap shapes for each cushion you want to make. Also cut one seat shape out of quilt batting for each cushion.
4. Sew the straps first. Fold each strap in half with the right side in, and sew along the long open edge and one end. Turn the straps right side out, using a pencil to push the fabric through if necessary.
5. Stack the pieces as follows: the batting, one right-side up fabric seat, the straps and finally the other fabric seat, upside down. For the straps make sure you do it in pairs, with the open ends at the edge of the cushion where they should attach and the rest of the strap folded up in the middle so it doesn't get sewn into other seams accidentally.
6. Pin this stack if you want and sew most of the way around the outside, leaving a gap of several inches.
7. Trim the edge of the batting layer as close as possible to the seam.
8. Turn the cushion right-side out. Fold the remaining raw edges in and carefully hand-sew the gap closed using an overhand stitch.
9. Iron the finished cushion if you want a crisper edge.
10. Attach the cushion to a chair using the ties.

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