Week 14: Backyard Lawn Furniture Cushions

Back in the fall we purchased some white wicker lawn furniture from Craig's list.  It was in pretty good shape, and best of all came with some really comfortable, thick cushions.  However, the cushions looked like this:

Yes, a little too old fashioned for my taste!

So before I get into recovering the cushions, let me give you a little background.  I was on a spray painting rampage this fall and decided to paint the lawn furniture turquoise and red.  This in itself was a ridiculous process that required WAY more spray paint than I thought, and after seeing how the spray paint weathered and chipped away, once spring arrived before I put the lawn furniture back out I had to do another coat and had to use a lacquer to protect it from the elements.

Finally when I recoated the wicker (and painted the little side table and planter my mom's husband bought for us),  I was ready to try my hand at recovering the bird and flower cushions.

I went to Jo-Ann's and the only outdoor fabric I found that both Jake and I could agree on was this:

So I got out my trusty measuring tape and started cutting and pinning away!

I started with the fabric inside-out, and made the fabric fold over on the part of the cushion that would be facing away from the back of the chair so there wouldn't be a seam.  Next I pulled the fabric snug and pinned all the way around the cushion.

I knew I would have to eventually take out the cushion before I started sewing, so I used a pencil to trace along where I pinned around the cushion.

Next, I unpinned a section long enough in the back to maneuver the cushion out of the pinned fabric, and started sewing along the pinned lines.  I next sewed a zigzag stitch next to the straight stitch to reinforce the seam since it is a cushion and people will be sitting on it and pulling the fabric a little more than normal. 

I cut the fabric down a little closer to the seam, then I flipped the fabric to see it right-side out.

Then I pretty much folded the pillow in half and shoved it back in the cover.

Next I folded the open seam under and pinned as close to the the cushion as possible, and hand stitched the open area closed.  I figured since this side will be facing the chair, the hand-stitching wouldn't be very noticeable.

I repeated this process for the other chair cushion and the couch cushion.  Here are some other pictures I took while making the other two: 

The corners on the couch cushion ended up being a little trickier to fold, pin, and sew, but I somehow made it work :)

For the couch cushion, I was able to sew along the long edge and one of the short edges, then wiggle out the cushion from the open edge to pin and hand stitch the rest.

Finally I have 3 finished cushions!  However, I thought they would look a little better if I added some decorative buttons that matched the fabric since the original chair cushions were gathered in the middle and the long couch cushion was gathered in 3 different spots.

I found enough buttons that were the same/similar size in my stash so it was nice I didn't have to buy any new ones to finish off the cushions.

I read online that to make a covered button I could just add a little bit of poly-fill used for pillows, stuffed animals, etc. (that I also had at home) to cushion the button from the fabric cover.

I then cut the material down and hot-glued it around the back of the button.  

Next, I marked the center of both sides of the pillow where i wanted the button to be placed.  I found the longest needle I had and threaded through the front and back of the fabric numerous times so the thread pulled the fabric tight.  Once I thought it was pulled enough, I knotted the thread and hot-glued the buttons on to both sides.  

I repeated for all cushions and after seeing the before and after of the cushions with and without the buttons and gathering, I think the additional touches were worth it.

After I got the cushions on the furniture, I realized it was quite a lot of red, but I like the way they look much better than they did before I repainted the wicker and covered the cushions!

I think the next step is to add a piece of glass to the top of the planter next to the couch to make that a little table as well.   This was not too difficult to do and only cost me about $30 for material, which is much cheaper than buying some cushions that are less comfortable for a lot more money :)