Blue and white toile seat cushions

We've had these outdoor chairs since 2007 and they were getting quite wobbly and faded. Mr. H wanted to throw them out and get new ones but of course I said "No way! We can paint them!" So we tightened up all the screws and painted them a light blue color and they were as good as new! The problem was that the maroon seat cushions that came with them didn't match the new color.

Before paint

Painted

With clashing maroon cushion

I went to several stores looking for outdoor seat cushions but since it's so far into summer all of the stores were sold out.  That's when I decided I could try to make my own! Now let me tell you, I am not a seamstress. I am far from it but my mom did show me how to use a sewing machine when I was about 12 and I took a quarter (not even a semester!) of Home Economics in junior high so I can sew a line. I didn't say a straight line, just a line.  Off I went to Hobby Lobby and found this blue and white toile that I just loved.  It was so French!

I felt okay about my abilities to make the main part for the cushions; the part I was most intimated by was how to make the ties.

Scary intimidating ties!

I took apart the ties on the maroon cushions and looked at how it was sewn. It looked doable.  All of my blog friends who are experienced seamstresses are probably saying "duh!" to themselves!  Here is what I did. (You can click on the picture to enlarge it). It ended up being pretty easy and fun!

After the ties were folded, I just sewed them along the edges.

For the main part, all I did was face the "good" sides of the fabric together and pretty much sewed a box with an opening on the top to allow enough room to stuff the cushion in. I turned the fabric right side out and sewed the ties on each end, stuffed the cushion back in and did a simple top stitching to close the opening. I didn't even consider trying to put a zipper in (way beyond my level).  I did consider Velcro but the maroon cushions were top stitched so I decided that would work for my new cushions as well.
Et voilà!

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