this video is brought to you by sailrite.in this video we will show you how to make your own chair pad cushions. this is an easybeginner’s project only requiring patterning, cutting foam and sewing. pick from hundredsof home dã©cor fabric at sailrite.com and build a set of chair pad cushions for yourabode. angela from the sailrite sewing loft is goingto show us how it’s done. a full materials list and the tools we used can be found atthe end of this video. start by using patterning material, we areusing dura skrim patterning material and we need to cut it to the general size of thechair’s seat, slightly oversized. use a sharpe marker and trace around the edge ofthe seat on top of the pattern material. since
the cushion pad will tie to the seat’s backrest the pattern material should be flush up against the back rest, as show here. thefinished cushion will be slightly smaller than the pattern material as the cushion coverwill compress the foam for a good fit. now simply cut the pattern material with scissorsright on top of the lines you struck down. for our cushion foam we are going to use fairfieldpoly-fil nu-foam which is a compressed or densified polyester. however you can pickto use anti-microbial polyurethane foam, shown on the left. the polyurethane foam is slightlymore dense than the nu-foam. after picking your foam trace around it usingthe pattern material you made earlier. the nu-foam can be cut with scissors (a foam cutterwill not work on it). often you will have
to cut a thin layer at a time. we are usinga 2 inch thickness of foam, so we are cutting the top half of the foam with scissor andwill need to go back to cut the bottom half after this is done. if you pick a polyurethanefoam you can use a foam cutter or electric kitchen knife to cut it easily.this tutorial requires a 2 inch foam to be used anything thicker and the cushion coverwill not fit following these principals. now we need to cut a top plate and bottomplate using our pattern onto of the home dã©cor fabric we picked from sailrite.com. we willtrace around the pattern placed on top of the fabric, but we will add about a â¼ inchfor seam allowance. so, as you can see we are tracing that distance around the patternmaterial.
sailrite suggest using a hot knife to cutmost synthetic fabrics. this keep the edges from unraveling as the knife seals the edges.you can sometimes use a wood burning tool or soldering iron also. we are using the sailriteedge hotknife package. it heat up in a few seconds and cools down in about a minute,it is a great professional hotknife at an affordable price for any do it yourselfer.you can also use scissors, but expect a little unraveling of the fabric as you sew the assemblytogether. angela with use this plate and line up anypatterns in the fabric. she will trace around it making a second plate of equal size. thencut the second plate out. now we have two plates one for the top of the cushion andone for the bottom.
we will now install a decorative piping toone of the plates. find the back side and the center location. line up the decorativepiping so you have a 1 inch tail going past the center location on the backside of theplate. the tape width of this decorative piping, available at sailrite.com is a ⽠inch andwe accommodated for a ⼠inch seam allowance, so we will sew the piping on the undersideof the fabric so we can see the edge of the fabric plate and position it about a ⼠inchaway from the piping’s tape edge. start sewing at the center back location, leavingabout 1 inch of the piping unsewn and hanging past the center location. do some reversingto lock the stitch in place. we are using the sailrite ultrafeed ls-1 sewing machinewhich has a large enough cording tunnel built
into the standard foot to accommodate this⼠inch piping or cording. if you are using the ultrafeed lsz-1 sewing machine (whichis a blue machine) you will need to use the larger welting or cording foot sold separatelyat sailrite.com. or you could simply use a roping zipper foot and sew right next to thepiping with it. notice that angela is carefully keeping thefabric about a ⼠inch away from the piping’s tape edge as she sews. the cording or pipingis being fed into the tunnel of the standard foot on the ultrafeed ls-1 sewing machine.we are approaching the back edge center location and angela will cross over the opposite endof the piping and sew right over it, this give a neat finished look to the two endsof the decorative piping. let’s take a close
up look at that location, to see what it lookslike. trim off the excess piping with scissors. join this plate up with the second plate sothe outside surfaces are facing each other. be sure corners are matched up before sewing.start sewing at the back corner, you must leave the back side open for the insertionof the foam and also for the insertion of the fabric ties which will be completed inthe next step. sew around this just as you did when you sewed the first plate, the pipingis running through the cording tunnel the fabric is about a ⼠inch from the tape’sedge. upon reaching the corner of the back edge(where the foam will be inserted into the cover) stop sewing about an inch past theturn and do some reversing. this is where
the fabric ties will be inserted in the nextstep, we first need to make those ties, that’s coming up next. to make the fabric ties we will cut two stripsof fabric that are about 16 inches long and 2 inches wide. we are using the same fabricthat the cushion cover was made from. we will cut it out with the sailrite edge hotknifeto help prevent the unraveling of the edges, you could use scissors, since all the edgeswill be hidden. notice that we typically use a metal ruler on the underside when usingthe hot knife to prevent damage to the table below. you could also cut on top of glass.a helpful item in most canvas and upholstery applications is the use of double sided tapeor seamstick. this is the seamstick for canvas,
part #129. it helps hold seams, hems and sleevestogether so you can take assemblies to the sewing machine and sew it without worryingabout them moving. you could also use straight pins.angela first created a small hem on the ends of the ties and then will make a hem on thetwo long edges basting them in place. now fold the tie in half so the hems are onthe inside of the fold. then sew a straight stitch down the length of the tie.fold the length of the tie in half (this makes a length of about 8 inches for the ties).insert the tie inside the cushion cover (the cushion cover is wrong side out still). itshould be positioned at each corner with the legs of tie going inside the cover and thefolded edge even with the edge of the cover
fabric. then sew it in place reversing a fewtimes to secure it well. do not sew the back side of the cover closed yet. do that to bothof the fabric ties. turn the cover right side out and get readyfor the insertion of the foam or compressed polyester, coming up next.we are using the nu-foam which is a compressed or densified polyester the technique for usingthe polyurethane foam is the same. fold up the foam making it easier to insert in thecover and push it inside the cover. it will often look like the foam it too large to fit,but with a little effort it should fit. we want the cover to be slightly smaller thanthe foam for a good tight fit and for the best appearance. we’re showing this in doubletime.
notice how angela uses her hand inside thecover and then pulls the outside edges so the piping is centered. she has to push thefoam into the sides and corners of the cover for a good fit. once the opening in back issewn up you will not easily be able to move the cover or foam around, so spend enoughtime here making sure you get the proper appearance now before you sew the open end shut. tryto position the piping so it rests in the middle of the cushion.once you are happy we will close up the back of the cushion completing our project. theplate that does not have piping sewn onto it should have its open edge folded back abouta â¼ inch or so. then take it to the sewing machine and sew the opening closed. watchas angela completes this task. we are using
the standard foot on the sewing machine tosew this opening close. however, if you want the stitch to be closer to the piping youmay want to insert a roping zipper foot on the sewing machine.see how she creates a nice hem to the fabrics raw edge, this give a nice finished look toour cushion. the sailrite ultrafeed ls-1 sewing machine walks easily over the decorative pipingeven at the middle cross over position. it is truly a great sewing machine for upholsteryapplications like this and much more. just tie the cushion to the chair and we aredone! coming up next is the materials list and toolsthat we used to make this chair cushion pad. you will find hundreds of gorgeous decorativehome dã©cor fabrics at sailrite to complement
your chairs surroundings. for more free videos like this be sure tocheck out the sailrite website or subscribe to the sailrite youtube channel. it’s yourloyal patronage to sailrite that makes these free videos available, thanks for your loyalsupport! i’m eric grant and from all of us here at sailrite, thanks for watching!