To make a dining chair cushion, cut a piece of high resilience foam to the shape of the chair seat, wrap it in polyester wadding, then make a fabric cover from a top panel, a bottom panel and a side strip, and finish with ties that secure the cushion to the chair uprights. Allow around ninety minutes for the first one and less for each after that.<\/p>\n
The two decisions that shape the whole project are foam density and how the cushion attaches. Get those right and the rest is straightforward sewing.<\/p>\n
Before buying anything, look at what the chair actually needs. A hard wooden seat needs a cushion with enough depth to make a real difference, usually 5cm of foam. A chair with existing thin padding needs less, perhaps 3cm, since adding too much will raise you awkwardly high relative to the table.<\/p>\n
Remember that every centimetre of cushion reduces your clearance under the tabletop. Standard clearance between seat and table is 27cm to 30cm. If your chairs currently sit at the lower end of that range, a thick cushion will make the table feel cramped.<\/p>\n
Measure the seat and note whether it is square, tapered or shaped around the back uprights. Most dining chair seats are wider at the front than the back, and a square cushion on a tapered seat leaves visible gaps at the rear corners.<\/p>\n
Place a sheet of paper or thin card on the chair seat and press it down against the edges. Crease along the perimeter, then lift it off and cut along the crease line. For chairs with uprights, mark where they meet the seat and cut notches so the cushion sits flush against the backrest.<\/p>\n
Check the template by putting it back on the chair. It should cover the seat completely with no overhang. Trim where needed.<\/p>\n
Fold it in half along its centre line to check symmetry, and correct any unevenness now. A template that is a centimetre out will produce a cushion that sits visibly crooked.<\/p>\n
High resilience foam is the correct material for seating. Look for a density of 32kg per cubic metre or higher. Density is not the same as firmness: a high density foam can still be soft, but it will recover its shape rather than staying compressed.<\/p>\n
Reflex foam and standard polyurethane foam are cheaper alternatives but they flatten under daily use, sometimes within a few months. For a chair used every day at mealtimes, the extra cost of high resilience foam pays for itself.<\/p>\n
Cut the foam using your template, marking the outline with a marker pen and cutting with an electric carving knife or a long serrated blade. Keep the blade vertical throughout. Angled cuts produce a wedge shaped cushion that rocks when you sit on it.<\/p>\n
Cut slightly outside the line rather than inside. Foam compresses when the cover goes over it, and a marginally oversized piece fills the cover properly.<\/p>\n
Wrap the foam in a layer of polyester wadding, taking it over the top surface and down all four sides. Secure it underneath with a few dabs of spray adhesive or a light hand stitch.<\/p>\n
Wadding rounds off the hard cut edge of the foam, which is what stops a homemade cushion looking like a slab. It also protects the foam from abrasion against the fabric, which is the main cause of foam breaking down at the edges over time.<\/p>\n
Use a 100g to 150g wadding. Heavier wadding adds bulk that makes the cover difficult to fit and can push the cushion height higher than you planned.<\/p>\n
Dining cushions need upholstery weight fabric. Cotton canvas, cotton drill, heavy linen and upholstery weight woven blends all work. Aim for at least 200gsm and, where a rub rating is listed, above 20,000 Martindale.<\/p>\n
Think about cleaning before you commit. A removable washable cover suits a household with children. A fixed cover in a wipe clean fabric suits a home where spills are the main concern. Both are reasonable, but the decision affects how you construct the cover.<\/p>\n
Pre wash washable fabrics. Cotton and linen shrink on the first wash and an unwashed fabric produces a cover that pulls tight and distorts after cleaning.<\/p>\n
If you would prefer seating that already has the cushioning built in properly, our modern fabric dining chairs UK sale<\/a> range uses foam and fabric specified for daily domestic use.<\/p>\n You need three elements: a top panel, a bottom panel and a side strip. Cut the top and bottom from your template plus 1.5cm seam allowance all round.<\/p>\n The side strip should be the foam thickness plus wadding, plus 3cm for seam allowances. Its length is the full perimeter of the cushion plus 5cm for joining. Cut it in one continuous piece if your fabric width allows, or join two pieces with the seam positioned at the back where it is least visible.<\/p>\n Lay out all the panels for every chair before cutting anything. Planning the layout across the full fabric width usually saves half a metre or more compared with cutting chair by chair.<\/p>\n Cut fabric strips 5cm wide and 35cm long, two for each rear corner, so four ties per cushion. Fold each strip in half lengthways with right sides together, stitch along the long edge, then turn it right side out. A safety pin threaded through helps with turning.<\/p>\n Press the ties flat and tuck the raw ends in. Ties made this way are neat and strong enough to be knotted daily for years.<\/p>\n Position matters. Place the finished cushion on the chair and mark exactly where the uprights meet the rear edge. Ties positioned even 2cm off will pull the cushion sideways every time they are tightened.<\/p>\n Join the side strip into a loop, then mark the corner positions on it with pins so they align with the corners of your top panel.<\/p>\n Pin the strip to the top panel with right sides together, matching those corner marks. Clip into the seam allowance of the strip at each corner so it turns without pulling. Stitch all the way round with a 1.5cm allowance.<\/p>\n Before attaching the bottom panel, pin the ties in position at the rear corners with their loose ends pointing inwards, so they are caught in the seam. Then pin the bottom panel to the other edge of the side strip, leaving the entire back edge open.<\/p>\n Stitch, clip the corners, and turn the cover right side out through the opening. Press all the seams.<\/p>\n Compress the wadded foam and work it into the cover, corners first. It should be a firm fit. If the pad slides in easily the cover is too large and will wrinkle in use.<\/p>\n Close the opening either with a slip stitch by hand, which gives an invisible finish but makes the cover non removable, or with a zip or hook and loop tape if you want to be able to wash it.<\/p>\n For a removable cover, insert the zip along the rear edge before you attach the bottom panel. Doing it at the end is possible but fiddlier.<\/p>\n A simple flat cushion, with no side strip, works if you only need 2cm to 3cm of padding. Two panels sewn together like a pillowcase over a thin foam pad takes half the time and looks entirely appropriate on a slimmer chair.<\/p>\n A tufted cushion, with buttons drawn through from front to back, holds thick foam in shape and adds a traditional detail. Use a long upholstery needle and strong twine, and back the rear button with a small square of fabric so it does not pull through the cover.<\/p>\n A piped edge, made by sewing cord into a fabric strip and inserting it into the top seam, gives a crisper outline and protects the seam from wear. It requires a zipper foot but adds a noticeably more finished look.<\/p>\n Rotate the cushions between chairs occasionally so that the seats used most often do not wear ahead of the rest. Turn them over if the cover is reversible.<\/p>\n Vacuum them with an upholstery attachment rather than beating them, since compressed air and repeated impact break down foam cells faster than normal use.<\/p>\n If a cushion flattens after a year, the foam density was too low rather than the cushion being poorly made. Replacing the foam inside an existing cover is a twenty minute job if you built the cover to be removable.<\/p>\n If the underlying chairs are past their best, cushions will not disguise that. Our modern dining chairs UK sale<\/a> range and dining benches UK<\/a> collection are worth a look, and Furniture in Fashion<\/a> delivers free to most UK mainland postcodes.<\/p>\n What foam thickness should a dining chair cushion be?<\/strong><\/p>\n 5cm for a hard wooden seat, 3cm for a chair that already has some padding. Check your clearance under the table before going thicker.<\/p>\n What foam density do I need?<\/strong><\/p>\n High resilience foam at 32kg per cubic metre or above. Lower density foam flattens within months of daily use.<\/p>\n How do I stop the cushion moving on the chair?<\/strong><\/p>\n Sew four ties into the rear corners of the cover, positioned to match the chair uprights, and knot them each time the cushion is fitted.<\/p>\n Should the cover be removable?<\/strong><\/p>\n If children use the chairs, yes. Insert a zip along the rear edge before attaching the bottom panel and pre wash the fabric so it does not shrink.<\/p>\n How much fabric do I need per cushion?<\/strong><\/p>\n Around 0.75m of 140cm wide fabric for a boxed cushion with ties, or 0.5m for a simple flat cushion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Making a dining chair cushion comes down to two decisions: the density of the foam and how the cushion attaches to the chair. Get those right and the rest is straightforward. This guide covers making an accurate template for tapered and notched seats, choosing high…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":60660,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3334],"tags":[6066,10,5254,5539],"class_list":["post-60659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-how-to-guide-for-your-home","tag-chair-cushions","tag-dining-chairs","tag-home-projects","tag-sewing"],"acf":[],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furnitureinfashion.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furnitureinfashion.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furnitureinfashion.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furnitureinfashion.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furnitureinfashion.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.furnitureinfashion.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furnitureinfashion.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furnitureinfashion.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furnitureinfashion.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furnitureinfashion.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Cutting the Cover Panels<\/h3>\n
Making the Ties<\/h3>\n
Assembling the Cover<\/h3>\n
Inserting the Pad and Closing<\/h3>\n
Alternative Approaches<\/h3>\n
Living With Your Cushions<\/h3>\n
Frequently Asked Questions<\/h3>\n