During the spring and summer months we’ve often written about taking the inside outdoors through rugs, furniture, lighting, accessories and creating outdoor rooms.  With Labor Day now just a couple of weeks away you might want to start thinking now about bringing the outside in!  I have.

I wanted a bench in my master bath and selected one I found in a garden department.  It’s a black metal loveseat that’s perfect for the garden.  By creating a soft cushion to cover the hard metal mesh seat the loveseat is dressed up and works perfectly indoors.  It’s an easy no-sew project you can do yourself – although you could sew a cover for the seat if you prefer.

Create a No-Sew Seat Cushion

With a piece of plywood, foam, chenille fabric and a few simple tools I created a cushion that domesticates a garden bench.  You too can make a piece of garden furniture house-worthy by creating a no-sew cushion – just follow these simple steps:

1.  Create a pattern for the seat.

I taped two large pieces of newsprint together with Scotch tape and then using a pencil, I drew around the shape of the seat.  Then I cut the shape out to create a pattern.

2.  Cut a wood base.

Use tape to secure the pattern to a piece of plywood and trace around the edge of the pattern.  Use a jig saw to cut the shape out of the wood.

3.  Cut a foam insert.

After tracing around the pattern onto a piece of foam, (I used 4″ thick high density foam) cut the seat shape out.  Tip:  If you have an electric carving knife use it to cut the foam – it works great!  You can also use a serrated kitchen knife.

4.  Glue the foam and the wood together.

Using Carpenter’s Wood Glue by Elmer’s, I spread a thin layer of glue on the plywood and pressed the foam onto it.  Let it dry.

5.  Cover the foam with batting.

Place the foam side down onto a piece of quilt batting (available in fabric stores) that is large enough to wrap up the sides of the foam and onto the plywood.  Start in the middle of one long side, bring the batting up snugly around the foam and use a staple gun to attach it to the plywood.  Secure the batting on the other three sides in the middle and then staple all around but avoid the four corners.

6.  Cut off the extra batting at each corner.

 Determine how much batting you need at each corner to wrap up the side and then cut off the excess.  If you don’t remove the excess, the corners of your cushion will be very bulky and mishapen.

7.  Smooth and staple the corners.

After trimming the batting at each corner, pull it up and manipulate the fabric so that the corner edge is as smooth as possible.  Secure with staples.

8. Cover the batting with fabric.

Place the seat batting side down and center it on the wrong side of the fabric (I used chenille).  As you did with the batting, pull the fabric up the sides and over the batting.  Fold the raw cut edge of the fabric under to create a smooth edge and staple it securely.  Use the same process of stapling the fabric first in the middle of each side.  Staple the fabric all around except leave the corners free.  As done with the batting (see above) cut off the extra fabric in each corner and then staple into place.

9.  Covered and ready to place.

10.  Place the newly made seat and enjoy.

Got It Covered?

Try this no sew seat for yourself – you can make a comfy cushion in short order.  What will you cover?

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