New cushions for the front porch

I am in the process of trying to make my front porch more presentable, so I bought some really cute vintage style patio furniture on clearance at Lowe's as the first step in the process. I wanted cushions for the furniture so I bought some ugly pads on clearance at Lowe's for $7 a piece and then found the perfect outdoor fabric on sale at Hancock's to recover them.

I love the fabric! It sort of looks like marbleized paper/Ikat with shades of blue, green and white. I measured the original cushion from seam to seam and added 1/2 an inch on all sides for seam allowances. I used the back of the original cushion to get the curve right and then cut out 2 per cushion.

I sewed around 3 sides leaving a 10 inch opening along the curved back. Next I took the front 2 corners and sewed the corners so that I defined the depth of the pad.

After sewing the corners I clipped them off to reduce bulk.

I took 1/2 inch strips of the fabric and folded them in half and then half again and then top stitched them to make the ties. I sewed the ties in at the back right on either side of the seams I left open. I cut the original fabric off of the pads, and then inserted them into the new covers. (insert lots of squishing here)

I pinned the opening in the back shut with the raw edges turned in, and then used my sewing machine to top stitch right along the edge.

"wash, rinse, and repeat" 3 more times and then voila! 4 stinkin' cute patio cushions! (I like how well this picture shows what cutting the corners off looks like.)

http://thediyshowoff.blogspot.com/