How to Make Your Own Dining Chair Cushions

Dining rooms can be tricky to design and decorate because you’re limited to using dining tables, chairs & sideboards without much opportunity for layering in soft textiles. Drapery, a rug underfoot and any opportunity to use upholstery always helps to soften the space. However, most homes’ dining rooms pull double duty as multi-purpose spaces that don’t lend to formal upholstered furniture pieces. And if you have little kids you know that an upholstered dining seat is laughable. Chair cushions to the rescue! I love the look of chair cushions on dining chairs, barstools and accent chairs. They feel laid back – and a bit cottage inspired – in the best way. Plus, they add that soft textile layer that feels really interesting.

Back when we bought our dining chairs (over a year ago) I envisioned pretty block printed fabric chair cushions layered over the woven seat to compliment the more modern rug that we have in this room. It took me awhile to finally get going on this project but now that they’re finished I’m so happy with the end result. I knew I wanted the pads to be super simple in shape with long ties at the back. You can do chair pads a few ways (velcro straps, leather straps, shorter ties) but I always love the look of long ties at the back of chairs. I purchased my fabric from Etsy – imperfect, hand blocked perfection in the prettiest muted hues – and was sure to sew zippers into the back for easy washing.

If you know your way around a sewing machine this is a fairly simple project. Here, I’m offering a high-level view of how I made my covers; if you have questions about how to start sewing or the basics of a sewing machine I suggest this tutorial. Also, installing zippers can be tricky, so I would definitely recommend watching this video to install your zipper the correct way.

what you need

Fabric: enough yardage for the cover + ties (optional: white flannel fabric for lining. This will also help keep your cover in place if using lightweight fabric. Order the same yardage as your printed fabric.)
Invisible zippers
Fabric interfacing
1-2″ high density foam
Extra loft poly-fil
Not necessary, but makes the job easier: fabric cutting mat + rotary cutter

First, make a template for your chair pad. Once you have the shape you want you will add 1″ seam allowance plus the thickness of your foam (either 1″ or 2″ based on the thickness of the foam) to the total length on both sides. I just used craft paper to get the right size and then used this when cutting out all of my fabric and flannel.

This isn’t necessary, but using a cutting mat and rotary cutter definitely makes cutting fabric easier and more precise. I used this for all of my cuts.

When it comes to cutting high density foam, using a serrated knife (or bread knife) works the best for getting a clean cut without ending up with a jagged edge:

For the ties I cut 1″ strips of fabric (about 36″ long), folded it 1/2″ on both side toward the middle – ironed it flat – and then folded the entire strip in half again, ironing it flat so that it formed a 1/4″ strip. Simply run a straight stitch down that folded 1/4″ strip and you have pretty, thin ties that match your fabric.