Making upholstered cushions for outdoor sofa
My DIY outdoor patio sofa was finished a couple of weeks back and I finally got around to making the upholstered seat cushions, and a few cushions to dress up the sofa. I had the foam cut to size at Foam Factory and used bull denim to cover. The cushions I made from some fabric offcuts and a piece of canvas drop cloth.
I went with medium-density foam for the back and seat cushions. It's not too hard and not too soft - just enough give for comfort.
Both the back and seat cushions have an open flap at the bottom to allow for washing. All you have to do is open the flap and pull out the foam to pop the covers in the washing machine.
I needed 6 metres of bull denim for the entire sofa. Each piece of foam was placed on the fabric and I used chalk to draw the outline to allow for cutting out. You need to allow a 12mm seam allowance on the sides.
After cutting out, I marked the fold on each section, cutting out a triangle at each corner. This will make it easier when sewing on the side panels.
The side panels were cut to the thickness of the foam (100mm) plus seam allowance. Now you can see how the notches are important when pining the side panels in place.
The fabric must be face-down when pining the top of the side panel in place.
Using the notches as a guide, sew along the top of the side panel. Stop at one end with the sewing machine needle down, so that you can turn the fabric while still in the machine and match one side panel to one side of the main panel of fabric.
Put your hand inside while still on the machine to smooth out any wrinkles. With the side of the panel and main seat fabric lined up - sew along this line. Go back to the top and repeat the process to sew the other side. This gives you a nice square panel for the sides of your cushions. Snip off the corners.
BTW... I used a cream thread so that you would be able to see what is going on, but you should use a matching thread.
The decorative cushions have a basic flap cover, which is extremely easy to do and allows you to remove and replace the covers anytime you want.
Cut the fabric so that you have two overlapping flaps at the back. Use a zigzag switch along the flap edges before you sew the cushion together.
Cut away the corners and run a zigzag stitch around the edge of the fabric to prevent any fraying.
Turn right-side-out and pop in your cushion inner. It's as easy as that !
I made one cushion using leftover fabric from a canvas drop cloth. Rather than leave plain I printed out a starfish design on my PC printer.
The back was rubbed with a soft pencil to make it easy to transfer the design onto the fabric.
Below you can see how the pencil-rubbed design has rubbed onto the fabric.
I used a Rust-Oleum paint pen to outline and add detail to the starfish shape.
Fabric glue was used to add a rope border around the starfish shape, as well as around the edge of the cushion. I did add a few hand stitches here and there to ensure the rope didn't come loose.
