To make cushion covers for dining chairs, measure the seat pad including its thickness, cut a top panel, a bottom panel and a boxing strip if the pad is deep, then sew the panels together with a 1.5cm seam allowance and finish with a zip or an envelope closure. A simple flat cover takes about forty minutes. A boxed cover with piping takes closer to two hours.
The choice between a flat cover and a boxed cover comes down to pad thickness. Under 3cm, a flat cover works and is far quicker. Over 3cm, a boxed cover with a side strip holds the shape properly and stops the corners pulling into points.
A flat cover is essentially two pieces of fabric sewn together like a pillowcase. The pad slides inside and the fabric wraps the edges. It is quick, it uses less fabric, and on a thin pad it looks entirely correct.
A boxed cover adds a third element: a strip of fabric that forms the side wall of the cushion. This gives the cover a defined edge and a squared profile. It takes longer and requires more careful cutting, but on a thick foam pad it is the only way to get a finish that does not look strained.
There is a third option worth knowing about, which is a shaped cover for a curved or scalloped seat. This follows the same principles as a boxed cover but needs a paper template traced from the pad itself rather than straight measurements.
Remove the pad from the chair if you can. Most dining chair seats lift out once you unscrew four fixings from underneath, and working with a loose pad is far easier than measuring in place.
Measure the width at the widest point and the depth at the deepest point. Dining chair pads are rarely perfect squares. Most are wider at the front than the back, sometimes by 5cm or more, and cutting a square cover for a tapered pad produces a loose, wrinkled fit at the rear corners.
Measure the thickness at the centre, not at the edge, since compressed edges will give you a smaller figure than the true depth. Write all three numbers down.
For your cut sizes, add 3cm to the width and depth for seam allowance. For a boxed cover, cut the side strip to the pad thickness plus 3cm, and long enough to run all the way round the perimeter plus 5cm for joining.
If the pad is tapered, curved or has cut outs at the back to fit around chair uprights, make a paper template rather than working from numbers. Place the pad on a sheet of paper, draw around it with a pencil held vertically, and cut out the shape. Add your seam allowance around the traced line.
Fold the template in half to check symmetry. Hand traced outlines are often a little uneven, and correcting that at the paper stage costs nothing while correcting it in fabric means recutting.
Keep the template. If you make replacement covers in future, or covers for a second set of chairs, you will not have to repeat the work.
Dining chair cushions take direct wear, spills and repeated compression, so the fabric needs to be robust. Cotton canvas, cotton drill, heavyweight linen and upholstery weight polyester blends all perform well. Look for a weight of at least 200gsm.
Rub resistance is worth checking if the fabric lists it. A Martindale rating above 20,000 rubs indicates fabric intended for general domestic upholstery, which is what a dining seat is. Lighter dress weight cottons will wear through at the front edge within a year of daily use.
Consider whether you want the cover to be washable. If so, pre wash the fabric before cutting so any shrinkage happens before the pieces are sewn. If you are using an upholstery fabric that is sponge clean only, skip the pre wash but accept that the cover will need spot cleaning rather than machine washing.
If you would rather not sew at all and simply want seating that already handles daily use, our range of modern fabric dining chairs UK sale uses upholstery fabrics rated for regular domestic wear.
Lay the fabric flat on a large surface, right side down. Position your template or measure directly with tailor’s chalk and a metre rule. Keep the grain running front to back on both the top and bottom panels, since a cover cut on mismatched grain will pull unevenly once the pad is inside.
Cut the top panel, the bottom panel and, for a boxed cover, the side strip. If your fabric has a pattern, centre the motif on the top panel. This is the surface people see, and an off centre pattern is immediately noticeable across a set of four or six chairs.
Cut all the pieces for every chair at once. It saves fabric through better layout planning and it guarantees consistency across the set.
Place the top and bottom panels right sides together and pin around three sides, leaving the back edge open. Stitch with a 1.5cm seam allowance and a stitch length of around 3mm.
Clip the corners diagonally, cutting close to but not through the stitching. This removes bulk so the corners turn out square rather than rounded. Turn the cover right side out and push the corners out gently with a blunt point.
For the open edge, either insert a zip or make an envelope closure by hemming both edges and overlapping them by 8cm to 10cm. The envelope method is simpler and needs no hardware, and on a seat pad the opening sits underneath where it is never seen.
Join the ends of the side strip to make a loop, checking the length against the pad perimeter before you commit. Mark the four corner positions on the strip with pins so they align with the corners of the top panel.
Pin the strip to the top panel right sides together, matching your corner marks. Clip into the seam allowance of the strip at each corner so it turns cleanly. Stitch all the way round.
Repeat with the bottom panel, but leave the rear edge open for the pad to go in. Insert a zip along that opening or use the envelope method as before. Turn right side out and press the seams.
Adding piping along the top seam gives a crisper edge and is worth doing if you are comfortable with a zipper foot. It also protects the seam, which is the point that wears first.
If the cushion sits loose on the chair rather than being fixed, ties keep it in place. Cut fabric strips 5cm wide and 35cm long, fold them lengthways with the raw edges tucked in, and stitch along the open edge to make a flat tape.
Attach two ties at each rear corner of the cover before you close the final seam, so the raw ends are enclosed in the seam. They then knot around the chair uprights.
Position the ties precisely by placing the finished cover on the chair and marking where the uprights meet the cushion. Ties in the wrong position pull the cushion out of square every time they are tightened.
If you are replacing the pad as well as the cover, use high resilience foam of at least 32kg per cubic metre density. Lower density foam collapses within months of daily use and no amount of good sewing compensates for that. A thickness of 4cm to 5cm suits most dining chairs.
Wrap the foam in a thin layer of polyester wadding before inserting it into the cover. The wadding softens the hard edge of cut foam and gives the finished cushion a slightly rounded profile that looks considerably better than bare foam pressed against fabric.
Insert the pad from the back opening, working the corners in first and then easing the middle into place. A tight fit is correct: the cover should require a little effort. If it slides in easily, it will wrinkle in use.
New covers on a collapsed pad give you a chair that looks fresh and feels no better. If the foam has flattened, if the seat base has cracked, or if the frame moves when you press on it, the chair needs more than a cover.
Similarly, if you are making covers for six chairs that were inexpensive to begin with, the fabric cost and the time involved may exceed the value of simply updating the seating. Our modern dining chairs UK sale range and complete dining table and chairs sets UK are worth comparing against the cost of materials before you commit to a large sewing project.
At Furniture in Fashion we deliver free to most UK mainland postcodes, and returns are available up to 30 days, so comparing options is straightforward either way.
How much fabric do I need for one dining chair cushion cover?
A flat cover needs around 0.5m of 140cm wide fabric. A boxed cover with a side strip needs around 0.75m per chair.
Should I use a zip or an envelope closure?
An envelope closure is simpler and sits hidden underneath the seat. Use a zip if you want a completely flat underside or plan to remove the cover often.
What foam thickness works for a dining chair cushion?
4cm to 5cm of high resilience foam at 32kg per cubic metre density or above. Thinner foam bottoms out and lower density foam flattens quickly.
How do I stop the cushion sliding off the chair?
Sew ties into the rear corners of the cover and knot them around the chair uprights. Position them by test fitting the cover before final stitching.
Can I machine wash homemade cushion covers?
Only if you pre washed the fabric and used a washable upholstery cotton or linen. Wash cool, and refit while slightly damp so the cover dries to shape.
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