One of my very favorite parts of summer is being outside. When the sun in shining and the weather is perfect, I hate being cooped up in the house, as do my boys.

We don’t have a huge backyard — in fact, we don’t have any grass at all (just a patch in the front yard), but I really wanted to make our outdoor space more livable since we’ll be spending so much time out there all summer. I borrowed an folding table and chairs for a backyard party a few months ago, and after serving dinner out there a few times before returning them, I fell in love with dining outside and couldn’t get it out of my head. (Maybe I loved it so much because I always make Philip cook on the grill if we eat outside…but that’s beside the point).

After thinking about it all the time over the last few months, and knowing that summer was coming quickly, I decided it was finally time to get an outdoor dining set. So I teamed up with World Market for a little backyard revamp and I’m SO excited to share it with you today!

My dress from here from Old Navy. It was originally sleeveless, so I bought two on clearance and cut up one to make sleeves (tutorial coming soon!)

World Market sent us this gorgeous outdoor dining set (which is currently on sale!), but of course an outdoor table isn’t complete without some beautiful cushions to go with it. I went back and forth between colors and fabrics and couldn’t make up my mind. So the solution was two-sided cushions! On one side I did a classic navy and white stripe, and on the other I did a trendy flamingo pattern, so I can choose which side to use based on my mood! I love having one of a kind cushions and I’m obsessed with how they turned out.

So today for DIY Friday I’m sharing a full tutorial to make these two-sided cushions…they look so professional and difficult, but I promise they’re pretty darn simple! Of course, you could also use this tutorial for indoor chair cushions.

(also find more outdoor living inspiration right here, and get 15% off and free shipping through the weekend with code JUNEDEAL)

Click READ MORE below to find the full tutorial!

*All instructions and materials are for four 18″x18″x3″ cushions

Materials:

1 3/4 yards bottom/side fabric (navy/white stripe on mine — if your fabric isn’t striped, you won’t need as much because you won’t have to match up the stripes)

1 1/4 yard fabric for the top (I stamped mine with a flamingo stamp that I hand carved, but you could use any stamp. Or I saw several cute flamingo stamps on etsy!)

1 yard fabric for piping

12 yards of piping cord

matching thread

18 in. standard plastic zipper (you’ll need one for each cushion)

seam ripper

zipper foot for your sewing machine

4 1/2 yards cord, twill tape, ribbon, or something for the chair ties

cushion foam (I got the 3″ wide green foam from Jo-Ann’s)

Step 1. First, cut your pieces. For your 18″x18″ cushions, you’ll need two squares of fabric, 19″x19″ each (not pictured). These will be your TOP and BOTTOM, and make sure they’re in contrasting fabrics.

Next cut the sides of the cushion (pictured). Three of the sides will be 4″x19″, and the last side will be 5″x19″ because we’ll need a little extra width to add in the zipper.

*You’ll see my 5″x19″ piece (second from the right) has a seam down the width. I was running out of fabric at the end, so I sewed smaller sections of fabric together to create the length I needed. The seam is not a bit noticeable once the cushion is sewn, so don’t be afraid to do this!

Step 2. Take your 5″x19″ strip of fabric and cut it in half. With right sides together, put the two pieces of fabric together and sew up one of the long sides with a 1/2″ seam allowance. Press it open flat, and press the seam allowance open.

Step 3. Using the instructions on the zipper packaging, sew the zipper to the strip of fabric.

When it’s done, it will look like this:

Step 4: With right sides together, sew all four strips of fabric together on the short sides. Now your fabric will look like the above.

BEFORE YOU GO ON, make your piping. Leanne has a super easy tutorial that makes it a breeze. You’ll need approximately 12 yards of piping.

Step 5. Now it’s time to attach your BOTTOM fabric. Lay one side of your SIDE fabric flat on the ground, facing up, then lay your piping on top of it with the raw edges lining up. Now lay your BOTTOM fabric on top of those layers. There will be 3 layers total. Pin in place. It will now look like the photo below:

Step 6. Sew along the edge, right next to the piping. Use your zipper foot so you can get as close to the piping as possible (as shown below):

As you get to the corners, bend the piping and begin pinning along the perpendicular SIDE and continue pinning.

When sewing around the corners, just stay as close to the piping as possible and keep the rest of the fabric as flat and smooth as possible (although it will get bunched up and that’s okay because it’s not visible once you turn it right side out).

Sew the three sides of the cushion that will have piping (I didn’t do piping along the back side where the zipper is).

Step 7. Once you get to the final side (with the zipper) tuck your chair ties inside the seam allowance, as shown above, and sew over them as you sew up the final side.

Now your cushion will have all four sides sewn up, and should look like this when turned right side out:

Step 8. Now it’s time to attach the TOP. With right sides together, pin the TOP fabric to the rest of the cushion, following the same method with the piping sandwiched in between when pinning and sewing. Sew all the way around the entire cushion, open the zipper to turn it right side out, and turn it right side out.

Now cut your foam to size and carefully tuck it inside. Zip it up, and it’s time to throw a backyard BBQ!

And don’t forget to find more outdoor living inspiration right here, and get 15% off and free shipping through the weekend with code JUNEDEAL!

A huge thanks to World Market for partnering on this post!

June 12, 2015

DIY FRIDAY: BACKYARD BBQ + 2-SIDED CHAIR CUSHIONS WITH PIPING (TUTORIAL)