DIY Bench Cushion
| March 8, 2012 | Posted by Jessie under Fabric, Kitchen, Sewing Projects |
After taking in consideration from your thoughts on the two different cushions that will go on our new bench, I decided to go with the piping edge. It has a more casual look {which we are going for} and, after reading a comment about crumbs possibly being an issue in the tufted look {thanks, Corrie!}, it will hopefully stay cleaner. The cushion cost about $8 and a couple hours of time to get make. I started with a piece of foam which Mike cut to size for me. We had this on hand from an old physical therapy table Mike brought home from work a while back.
I’m the farthest thing from a sewing expert so I’ll do my best to explain how I made this up:) I think I used about a 1 1/4 yards of fabric for the whole bench, which is 54″ long and 15″ wide. I wrapped it all in batting for extra cushion and comfort. I laid it out on the cushion and cut it to size.
And wrapped it a couple times.
Then I cut all my fabric to size. I cut one large piece to cover the top first. Then I cut a strip of fabric that was a couple inches wide to cover my cording for the piping. Lay the cording in the center of the strip of fabric and fold it over and pin.
Then sew it shut with a zipper foot attachment.
Then fold the middle of the cording open and pin and sew one side of it to the top piece of fabric.
And sew those two pieces together. Next you will add the side pieces. My foam is about 3 inches thick with the batting so I cut some fabric about 5″ wide to leave an allowance to sew the seam on top and bottom. Pin the sides to the other flap of the piping.
Then sew that as well with the zipper foot.
Then you will pin and sew another strip of cording for the bottom. Attach that to the side, just as you did the top piece. Now the bottom piece is slightly different than the top piece. There are a ton of different ways to create a closure, such as velcro or a zipper but I decided to simply create a giant envelope to make this project easier. I cut two pieces of fabric the same length as the foam, but slightly larger than half width-wise {about 4 extra inches}. Start by double folding and pressing the edge to create a hem.
And sew it:)
Then I laid both pieces out on the back of the foam and overlapped them by a few inches. I pinned one half on top of the other.
And I sewed a rectangle. This should give it extra sturdiness as we take the cushion cover off and on to clean as needed. I did this on each end.
Then I pinned the two pieces {which are now attached at either end with a rectangle} to the bottom piping.
This was the final step. Flip it right side out and stuff the foam and batting inside.
Then sat it on the bench. I’ll admit, it’s quite comfortable and adds some needed height to the bench.
The gray linen plays nicely off the gray and white striped rug {tutorial on that next week!} and softens the look of all the wood. I am still trying to decide what to do to finish it off. We talked about just adding a slip mat under the cushion to keep it in place on the bench, but I’m also still considering adding some straps to wrap around the bottom. I think they may add a little something something to look of it too. Any thoughts? Either way, it’s functional and we now have some padded seating to go along with our pretty new bench:)
Great idea
I did something similar to this with a small bench in my entryway… very fun project!
[...] 1 and 2} for our “new table”, updating the island, adding and painting a rug, etc. I sewed cushions for our kitchen benches using a gray linen awhile back and loved the color, but the fabric [...]
I was just looking for something like this for my dining chairs!!!
So if I wanted to try to make this for super cheap could I just use the correct size board for the base and instea I using batting use a couple old comforters then wrap the fabric around and staple to bottom of board?