Imagine it, do it – Make cushions for garden furniture

Want to make cushions for garden furniture? You’re not alone. It’s a thing.

Grey is gorgeous. It’s the colour a lot of our garden furniture focuses on, simply because it’s so hot right now. Grey is on-trend. It’s cool and smart. It’s calm, not in-your-face bright or loud. It doesn’t show the dirt, which is always a good thing. It doesn’t say ‘seaside’ like stripes can. It doesn’t say a thing. It’s just lovely. And because greys don’t clash with anything, you can brighten it up with any colours or patterns you like.

The Great British Sewing Bee has brought sewing into the limelight. Everybody’s doing it. Add the trend for recycling and repurposing, making do and mending, and it’s not just fun making your own garden furniture cushions. It’s also a feel-good thing, a cool thing, an exciting thing. So let’s do it!

Vibrant or subtle, pastels or brights, patterned or plain, textured or smooth, vintage or new, fancy or subtle, tasteful or outrageous… here’s some inspiration for making our wonderful garden furniture unique.

Fantastic fabrics to make cushions for garden furniture

The internet is a treasure-trove of amazing finds, including luscious material. Try Ebay for top bargains, including affordable offcuts of expensive fabric. Go direct to places like Liberty for stunning traditional fabric designs by old-school designers like William Morris, revived many times as the decades pass, in and out of fashion but always glorious. Pop down the high street to your local dressmaking shop, if you’re lucky enough to have one. They’ll sometimes have offcuts and ends-of-rolls on sale.

You can use upholstery fabric to make cushions, of course. It tends to be tougher and thicker than dressmaking materials. But there’s no reason why you can’t use any kind of fabric. If you want to use something really fine and delicate to make cushions, back it with a sturdy fabric. You can either sew the two pieces together or use a fabric glue to fix the delicate stuff to the sturdy stuff.

Make garden furniture cushions from your favourite old clothes

Patchwork is one of the biggest fashion trends right now. If you have old clothing you adore but don’t wear any more, use the fabric to patch together an exotic piece of DIY material for cushion-making. Contrasting shades, toning shades, wild patterns, clashing colours or cool, calm combinations, it’s a gorgeous look and very easy to achieve.

The joy of maximalism – Gild that lily

We’ve talked about garden maximalism before. It’s all about enriching your space in every possible way with colour, pattern, beautiful and interesting objects, piles and piles of plants, sculpture, rocks, water features and more, so it becomes an amazing space to explore and enjoy. The trend means there’s no such thing as ‘too much’. Go wild, go crazy, add masses of vibrant cushions to your outdoor space to make a display to fest your eyes on. It’s also a great way to make your garden seriously comfortable to spend time in.

Get creative with exciting cushion shapes

A cushion is a cushion, right? Actually, they don’t have to be rectangular or square. It’s simple enough to create garden furniture cushions in a variety of shapes. Think hearts, flowers, triangles, circles, cubes, even more complex shapes like pets, exotic animals and other creatures.

What to fill an outdoor cushion with?

Polyester filling is one of the most commonly used fillings for outdoor cushions. It’s low cost, is fluffy and soft, is good at resisting mould, and dries quickly if it gets wet. Foam is another popular choice for filling outdoor cushions, available in different densities and thicknesses. It’s also an affordable choice of outdoor cushion filling. Then there’s clustered polyester filling, similar to regular polyester filling. It’s low cost and soft, but it’s made into little balls or bundles, which makes it firmer to sit on therefore more comfortable. Alternatively, use a load of old clothes, sheets, curtains, or other fabric cut into thin strips, a great way to cut back on fabric waste and use unwanted things up.

Go BIG for beanbag-style alfresco comfort

Great big beanbags are really easy to make. Like all cushions they’re basically a large bag with one open end that’s either sewn up after adding the filling, or given a Velcro or zip closure. Again, use any fabric you like, or a combination of fabulous fabrics for drama and excitement. Most beanbags are filled with little polystyrene beads and you can even but beanbag re-fills to make life easier. Make your bean bags, buy the right size refills, job done. Here’s some guidance.

Dare to embellish

One garden furniture cushion… finished! Or is it? There’s no reason why you can’t keep going, keep on embellishing. Think beads and lace, ribbons and fancy trims, embroidery and applique. Try razoring, where you carefully cut slits in one fabric to reveal the toning or contrasting material underneath, add tiny mirrors or feathers.

Can you make your own showerproof cushions?

Yes! All you need is waterproof fabric spray. It’s like magic. Thompson’s Water Seal fabric seal does a brilliant job, available on Amazon and good DIY and craft stores. It doesn’t make the fabric stiff, it stays soft. It’s a great way to use textiles outside and make them super durable. And it even prevents your fabrics from fading. No UVA or UVB damage from the sunshine.

Neat garden storage solutions for stashing soft furnishings safely

Now you’ve made loads of gorgeous outdoor cushions, where do you stash them when they’re not being used? Bring them indoors if you have space. Otherwise, we have some wonderful garden storage solutions for you, some large and some smaller, all good-looking and durable.