Monday 22 April 2013

EASY PEASY OUTDOOR FURNITURE COVERS

This post was supposed to be written and published months ago but I have been quite busy and have not been able to get it ready to share with you any earlier. Most of the photos were also taken using my old Canon as my new baby, a Nikon dslr, wasn't born to our family yet. So, here is my excuse for the poor quality pictures in the post.

Months ago, I was desperately looking for a solution for my outdoor furniture. We have this beautiful wooden table and seat set that caters for 8 people (four 2-seaters). We also love spending time outdoors and it is just a perfect start to a nice breezy spring day or a sunny summer morning for us to have some breakfast at the backyard. However, we were hardly able to use the set up until I made some cover for the seats a few months ago!
Outdoor table/seat set
(Before) 
Easy tutorial for wooden seats
(After)

The reason we couldn't use them was because there is not much on top of the table and the seats to protect them from all those bird droppings that make you 'lucky' (Has it worked? Is this a nice-enough way of saying 'bird shit'?). I have tried using a huge piece of fabric (linen) to cover them all up when unused, tried using newspaper to sit on, used smaller pieces of fabric for each seat while using it and so on but none was a convenient, practical and pain-free enough solution for us. It was either too much work, took a lot of time and effort, caused a huge pile of washing or simply did not work.

I started thinking of making covers for the seats but was not quite sure how to go about it at first. I asked for an opinion from my husband, my sister, from the very helpful ladies at The Sewing Library but nothing came through that I was totally happy to go with. Therefore, I had to come up with something that would work for me.

I was lucky that a few days after I had decided to make some covers and came up with a design on paper, a local fabric store had a sale on. That was definitely very handy. I picked up a large upholstery fabric that is easy to wash and dry, does not run colour, does not crease too easily and had a good thickness level for durability. Can you imagine how happy I was when I came back home with a lot of that fabric?

Outdoor furniture cover

I first measured my seats both vertically and horizontally. When deciding on the length, I started from the back of the chair, measuring up to the top of the chair, then down to the seat along the backrest, measured the width of the seat, and  then measured from the seat to about 15cm above the floor level. The width of the fabric was 1.5m and was just perfect for my project as I needed my seat covers to be almost 1m wide and wanted it to be 1.5m long. All I needed to do was to cut a meter of the fabric for each seat. The original fabric's width became the length of my seat-covers. Nice and simple. I cut four of those 1m pieces and then hemmed the sides of the fabric. To hem, I simple folded it once, then folded again and ran a zigzag stitch.

An easy furniture cover tute

Bench cover tutorial

Easy handmade furniture cover tutorial

After that, I folded one side in about 45cm over lengthwise, making the rectangle fabric piece almost a square, as seen in the picture below. This was to make a pocket to help it stay on the seat. It is to slide over the back-rest.

Easy and quick chair cover

I sewed only a bit more than halfway through to give it some flexibility rather than sewing it all the way down (Approximatey 25cm of it from top is sewn) and voila! The seat cover was ready.

Tutorial for chair covers

A quick seat cover tutorial

Easy peasy furniture cover


Quick seat cover tutorial

Enjoy some outdoor time in the cold, hot or warm weather that you have wherever you are on the globe!

30 comments:

Nanny@nannynotes2u said...

What a great example of using your skills to 'solve a problem', Mrs Lucky! I'm sure you will enjoy your brekkie now! :)

Mrs. Lucky said...

We sure do Nanny. Thank you for your lovely comment by the way!

Unknown said...

What a nice post! I really find this very interesting. Putting some covers on outside furnitures really helps so much. Your creativity and skills in making this cover is indeed so impressive. I would really love to try this soon. Thanks!

-MambeBlankets.com

Mrs. Lucky said...

Lovely to hear Cathy, thank you for sharing your thoughts here. I am glad to hear that you've found it interesting and are inspired by it. That makes my day. Thank you.

stephen said...

I want to know if there is a place online I can buy the cover directly from, but googling has failed.
Car Seat Covers

Mrs. Lucky said...

Hi Stephen. I am sorry I won't be able to help with your question much as I have no idea. Good luck with your search!

Unknown said...
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Unknown said...

Redecorating metal garden furniture can put a fun twist on your old garden furniture. I adore the fabric you picked out to give it a more casual outdoorsy feel to the furniture! I will definitely have to try this with my metal garden furniture!

Marin Smith said...

Very interesting post on easy peasy outdoor furniture covers. You have very well described to make cover for furniture. I will follow your blog to make such types of covers for my furniture. Buying furniture is not a big thing we should take proper care of furniture and Home Bars Furniture.

Mrs. Lucky said...

Thank you for your comment Marin. I am glad you have found my blog helpful and inspirational.

Mrs. Lucky said...

Hi Joss. It is great to hear that this blog post has inspired you to make a cover for your garden furniture as well. Have fun making!

0s0-Pa said...

Are those teak benches??

Mrs. Lucky said...

No 0s0-Pa, they are jarrah.

Mrs. Lucky said...

Great to hear Micle, thank you for taking the time to leave your feedback. Much appreciated.

Unknown said...

Furniture is an investment that should increase in value over time. How much that value appreciates is dependent on how well you care for it, particularly for furniture of wood. It is essential to cover them with a furniture cover, Special care of your furniture will provide a lifetime of service and enjoyment to your family.

Outdoor Furniture Covers for Setting

Unknown said...
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Mrs. Lucky said...

Totally agreed emma wilson, thank you.

Zemkarlos said...

Good post. This is a very nice blog that i will definitively come back to more times this year. Thanks for informative post. reception furniture miami

Mrs. Lucky said...

Hi Zem Karlos,
Thank you for your feedback. I am glad you have found this blog useful. You are most welcome.

Unknown said...

Great! It is really good and easy method to prepare the covers. Outdoor fabrics should be weather proof so we have to choose the best fabrics for outdoor furniture.

Unknown said...

Thanks for this very useful info you have provided us. I will bookmark this for future reference and refer it to my friends. More power to your blog. outdoor furniture manufacturers

Mrs. Lucky said...

Thank you for your comments Sherin John and Gebe India. I am glad you have found it useful.

Unknown said...

I was able to find good info from your content.


outdoor furniture

Mrs. Lucky said...

Thank you for taking the time to leave your comment Alessio jose. I am glad you liked it.

Unknown said...

Abba Patio Outdoor Sofa Cover from Bizarkdeal

I needed a cover to protect my outside furniture from the elements. I was cramming everything inside a small storage shed in the winter. Even though they were protected from the elements it was very labor intensive. I was exploring my alternatives when I found this loveseat cover. When the cover came I was very impressed with how compact it was. The cover is made of heavy duty waterproof fabric. The sides are all stitched and there is an adjustable drawstring on the bottom to help keep the cover in place. I was able to place several patio chairs, cushions and two small tables under this cover. Once I tightened the drawstring it cinched down nicely to keep the cover in place. This is perfect to protect multiple pieces of patio furniture.

Unknown said...
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almostakbl said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Outdoor Covers said...

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Muhammad Hassan said...

Superbly written article, if only all bloggers offered the same content as you, the internet would be a far better place.. best waterproof patio furniture covers

Unknown said...

Great! It is really good and easy method to prepare the covers. Thanks for this very useful info you have provided us Outdoor furniture .

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