How To Make A Pattern For Outdoor Chairs

With summer quickly approaching you can hardly open a Pottery Barn or a Ballard Designs catalog without seeing a wide array of outdoor furniture and cushions.

Pottery Barn

Pottery Barn

Ballard Designs


You can order outdoor cushions from these catalogs, but with the prices, I prefer to make my own.  Plus if you make your own you can make them custom to fit your furniture.
Here's how I make patterns for cushions.
What you'll need:
 Paper (newspaper, tissue paper, wrapping paper) any paper that is large enough to cover the area of the cushion you want to make.
Ink Pen
Clear Ruler
Hem Gauge

Lay your paper on the seat of the chair.  Make sure you have at least 1/2" extra around all the edges.

Push the pattern paper into the corners and crease along the edges.  Using a pen or pencil trace all along the crease edge and along the front of the chair.

The paper may try to wrinkle up at the curved areas, just try to keep it as smooth as possible.

I also like to take the measurements too.  My measurements were 18"x18".

No matter how carefully you traced your pattern, it usually won't come out symmetrical.  So here's my little trick to getting the pattern symmetrical.  Fold your pattern in half lengthwise.  Put a pin in the front corner and line it up with the other front corner.

Using a couple more pins align the sides and top.

Lift the folded paper and check to make sure you are pinning with the pattern lines lined up.  Don't worry if they all don't line up perfectly, that's what we are correcting with this process.

Once you have the straight edges lined up, use a pin to punch holes through the pattern along the lines you traced.  I use a Tpin because it makes a larger hole and makes it easier to see.

Unpin and unfold your pattern and you will be able to see where one or both sides of the pattern need adjusting.

In my case, the rounded upper corners were off by quite a bit and I decided I wanted to go with the sharper corner, so I refolded my pattern and flipped it over and poked holes this time tracing the sharper corner.

Using a ruler, trace over the straight edges to make nice clean straight pattern lines.

Once you have your straight edges drawn, freehand the rounded edges following the holes you punched.  I usually cross out the bad line so I don't get them confused.

Using a clear ruler, add 1/2" seam allowances to the straight edges.

I use a hem gauge to make small marks around the curved edges for the seam allowance.

Then just connect the these small marks, kind of like dot to dots.

Cut your pattern out and label it with any important information.

Now you have an accurate pattern to make cushions for your outdoor furniture. Pin It