How To Make Outdoor Chaise Lounge Cushions – Are your patio chairs and cushions looking a little sad after a long winter? Looking to recreate patio pillows for summer? Just something to sit on to enjoy your garden and birdhouse all to yourself! I can show you how to do it…quick and easy.
First, my story: I’ve wanted a rocking chair on my front porch for years. Greg bought us two beautiful wicker chairs a few weeks ago. They were brown, which didn’t match our house, so he painted them white for me. But the cushions were still dull beige like the chairs. I’m not a beige girl. So we went to the fabric store and picked out a bright and fun street fabric. But the fabric sat for a bit without me working on it at all. Does this sound familiar?
How To Make Outdoor Chaise Lounge Cushions
But yesterday was a great day and I knew it was time to bring those ugly pillows back. It only took about an hour to restore both porch cushions from start to finish. This is a super easy sewing project…and if you don’t want to sew, there are options for that too. And my porch pillows weren’t even quite square. Let me show you how to restore porch pillows quickly and easily!
Style Selections Salito Marine Patio Chaise Lounge Chair Cushion In The Patio Furniture Cushions Department At Lowes.com
If you love to sew like I do, be sure to grab a free ticket to the Sewing Summit on the 1st-5th. June 2020 This is a free online sewing event with over 25 free classes, workshops and sewing for everyone from beginners to advanced! I’m one of the “speakers” and have a step-by-step video on how to sew and assemble the Couch Caddy – this is the only place you can get my video tutorial, so be sure to subscribe!
This is a complete step-by-step guide to restoring patio cushions! Some of the links in this post are Amazon affiliate links for your convenience (meaning if you make a purchase after clicking the link, I’ll earn a small commission, but it won’t cost you a penny more)!. Read my entire privacy policy.
First, lay the fabric face up on a flat surface and place the patio cushion on top of it. Place the patio pillow in the top corner of the fabric so that the back of the pillow is closer to the top, leaving enough room on the side for the fabric to wrap around the side of the patio pillow. If your fabric is too wide or too long, cut it now. Just make sure there is plenty of fabric on both sides of your patio cushion (I left an extra three inches on each side).
Green Cushion Resin Wicker Outdoor Chaise Lounge Patio Home Furniture
Then pull the fabric up and over the patio cushion so it is completely covered. Your fabric will meet at the top. Leave an extra three inches of fabric at the top, then cut off the excess.
Once your fabric is placed on the porch pad, pin both sides together. If your pillow is pointed at the back like mine, I recommend skipping the last pin and marking it in some other way, such as pins on either side of the fabric where you would pin it (just don’t cover it) or a material mark.
In the picture above, you can see that I marked the narrow top with pins, rather than stabbing.
Outdoor Chaise Lounge Chair With Adjustable Back
Now gently pull the block. If your patio pillow pinches in the back like mine and you have a hard time removing it, just crumple the patio pillow inside the fabric like a taco and you can easily remove it.
Sew each side together, then remove the pins. In the picture below you can see my black stitching lines.
Then place the patio pillow back into the fabric “shell” you made (don’t turn the fabric right side out yet). Notice the extra felt on each of the two front corners of your patio cushion. Attach the fabric from both corners so that it is flush with the pillow.
Arden Selections Polyfill Outdoor Chaise Lounge Cushion 76 X 22, Ruby Red Leala
Remove the fabric from the pillow again and sew a line along the corner where you pinned. Remove the pins.
Now turn the fabric right side out and insert the pillow. In the photo below you can see how I bent my patio pillow to match the fabric cover I made.
Push the patio cushion all the way into the fabric. Look what a beautiful corner it forms!
Charlotte Outdoor Acacia Wood Chaise Lounge And Cushion Set
Now fold the rest of the fabric over the back of the balcony pillow, just like wrapping a gift. Put it in place.
I hope you now see how easy it is to restore porch pillows. It only took me 20 minutes. When this pillow fades, I just buy a new fabric and restore it again. piece of cake! I also made a quilted headboard for these wicker rocking chairs – if you need a tutorial for that, let me know in my sewing group here!
May 2020 Update: I rediscovered these patio pillows over three years ago and they are still holding up! But the fabric faded, because I always forget to take them for the winter. Then it’s time to use this guide to restore them again! The question is, what great outdoor fabric should I use this time? Finding the fabric will be more difficult than recreating the pillows because our craft shops are not open yet. I might have to get creative!
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I hope this tutorial has inspired you to recreate your outdoor patio pillows too! I’d love to see what you do to make mine look good again. Please share a photo in our Sew Easy Facebook group or tag me # on social media.
Do you want to remember it? Please pin this tutorial on how to restore patio pillows to your favorite DIY Pinterest board!
Jennifer Marks is a designer, passionate artist, and teacher who proudly overcomes many life challenges. In her free time, she enjoys playing D&D and video games, gardening, sewing 16th century costumes, and visiting Disney. She lives a full and happy life in beautiful Ann Arbor, Michigan with her partner Greg, teenage daughter Alexa and two dogs, Hunter and Chloe. Josh made some great seats to give us a place to lounge and we decided to add some thick outdoor cushions to make the seating area more comfortable.
Nassau Outdoor Grey Wicker Adjustable Chaise Lounge With Ivory Cushion
First, I measured the width and depth of each seat to see how big the cushions needed to be. The pillow filler I bought was 4 inches tall, so I knew that number would be the height of my pillow.
To find the fabric measurements for the pillow panels, take the width and depth measurements and add 1 inch to both numbers to allow for a seam allowance of around 1/2 inch. These dimensions are for the top and bottom panels of the pillow.
To determine the length of the side panel, add the original measurements (the numbers before the extra inches for the seam allowance) of all four sides of the large panel.
Pillow Perfect Bosco Polyester Navy Outdoor Chaise Lounge Cushion
Add 1 inch to the large number for a 1/2 inch seam allowance. The height of your extra long side panel is the height of the pillow filler with an extra 1 inch for a 1/2 inch seam allowance.
To attach the long side panel and create a large continuous loop around the edge of your pillow, fold the panel in half (right sides together) and sew 1/2 inch from the edge to join the edges.
Align the fabric loop edges of the side panel with the edge of the top panel (right sides together) and pin the edge in place.
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Attach the bottom panel to the side panel in the same way as the top panel, making cuts at all corners.
Before you sew the entire bottom panel together, you’ll want to add a zipper to one of the ends so you can insert the pillow stuffing.
Place the zipper face down on the right side of the fabric at one end of the bottom panel. Place the zipper so that it is set 1/2 inch from the edge.
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Repeat the process of attaching and sewing the other side of the zipper to have a functional zipper.
Now you can sew the rest of the bottom panel (start at the end of the zipper and stop when you get to the beginning).
Be sure to leave the zipper open a few inches before sewing so you can come back later! Turn the pillowcase right side out and you’re ready to add the filling!
Outsunny Outdoor Pe Rattan Patio Chaise Lounge Chair With 5 Backrest Angles And 2 Wheels For Easy Movement Grey
Use a ruler and marker to measure the appropriate width of your pillow filling.* If you can’t get a long enough pillow that is one piece, just use as many pieces as you need to fill the length of the pillow.
* Note: I strongly recommend making the width and length of the insert slightly larger than the actual width
