Tuesday, April 3, 2012

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

137 comments:

  1. What a great tutorial. I have a couple wicker chairs that can now have cushions that fit - thanks to your excellent and simple directions.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! I love wicker chairs and there's nothing worse than cushions that don't fit right! Happy cushion making!
      Jules

      Delete
  2. Thanks for the great pattern tutorial! I'm not a seamstress at all, and this will certainly help me out alot! :)

    xoxo laurie

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Laurie, Cushions aren't hard once you know the tricks of the trade, glad I could help!
      Jules

      Delete
  3. Great tutorial. I don't sew either. But, maybe with your help, I will someday soon. I neeeed a cushion like this in my wicker chair. So, I am your newest follower. Please come visit me and hopefully you'll follow back. THANKS. 8-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Candy,
      You don't sew, but you sure can paint! That's what I'm trying to learn...maybe we could swap tips?!
      Jules

      Delete
  4. Thank you so much for this!! I was needing new cushions for some furniture I'm about to redo! -Jessica

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jessica, Glad I could help! Look forward to seeing pics of your furniture!
      Jules

      Delete
  5. I've always kind of wondered about making foam cushions for outdoor chairs. THanks so much for explaining.:)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Great idea, pattern and tutorial. Thanks so much for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Your welcome!
      I'm a loyal follower of your blog, thanks for hosting!
      Jules

      Delete
  7. Thanks for the instructions--this opens so many possibilities! (found you in Ginger Snap Craft's party and will be featuring as a fave :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Steph,
      Thanks sooo much for featuring my cushion pattern tutorial!!
      Glad this inspires you, that's what it's all about! I started following you and will link up next Saturday.
      Thanks again, Jules

      Delete
  8. Wow! Thanks for the tutorial. They sell some many beautiful fabrics for outdoor furniture!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Tonia,
      Glad you liked my tutorial! Fabricguru.com has a bunch of neat outdoor fabrics. Happy fabric shopping!
      Jules

      Delete
  9. I have been wanting to recover my outdoor furniture but was not sure how to do it! Now I do! Thank you!

    Robin @ garagsalesrus.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Robin,
      So glad you liked it. Glad I could help!
      Jules

      Delete
  10. Thanks for sharing your tutorial. I have a few outdoor chairs that I would love to recover.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brandi,
      Your welcome! Looking for fabric? try fabricguru.com
      Jules

      Delete
  11. Thank you for showing this, my outdoor cushions from last summer are ruined (white cushions + three boys=bad idea on my part!) and I have been trying to figure out how to make new ones!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Melissa,
      Were your white cushions out of outdoor fabric? They should repel liquids and dirt if they were. Did you try sending the covers through the washing machine? A few years back I slip covered my sofa in white Sunbrella and my son(then 8 yrs old) dirtied them all the time. I would throw it through the wash at least once a month and they held up for several years.
      But it sounds like it is just time for new covers, glad I could help!
      Jules

      Delete
  12. Thanks so much because I need to do this. My problem is finding outdoor cushions to cover which are SO expensive. enJOYed!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Joy,
      You can re-cover your old ones or start from scratch. If you start from scratch find an upholstery supplier, they usually sell foam and batting. Just take the pattern that you make with you and they should be able to cut the foam to your pattern size(minus the seam allowance) Good luck! If you have any more questions, shoot me an email, I'll be glad to help.
      Jules

      Delete
  13. Another great tutorial, I have several outdoor cushions to make. I keep recycling the same outdoor cushions. So thanks once again for showing us how. Thanks for sharing your creative sewing inspiration at Sunday's Best!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Cathy,
    Hope it helps with the next re-covering you do of your outdoor cushions.
    Thanks for hosting!
    Jules

    ReplyDelete
  15. Ok, so what about the piece that connects the top and bottom? the middle middle piece that is about 3 inches thick and goes all the way around the cushion?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. good question, i was wondering the same thing

      Delete
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  33. Thank you for the great guidelines. I had a question however... I have cast iron foam cushions, probably 4" thick, that need replacing. How would the pattern change so that I don't just have the top of the cushion but also the sides?

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