Eric: This video is brought to you by Sailrite.
Visit Sailrite.com for all your project supplies, tools and instructions. You can quickly and
easily make box cushions following this DIY tutorial. There’s no faster way to make
a cushion cover and still get gorgeous results. Follow this seven step process and you too
will be making cushions in less than 60 minutes. Brian: A couple things that make this cushion
easier: one, of course, there’s not as many panels to join so it does go a little faster.
But more importantly, with a pattern like this, if your boxing didn’t line up, it
would look a little off and you could go either way- you could just have the boxing not line
up or you can spend a tremendous amount of time trying to match everything up. With this
particular pattern and this design, it just rolls right off the edge, the pattern carries
over; it does the same thing at the end. The only place your pattern doesn’t really match
is there at the corner. But that’s a lot better than having a complete mismatch all
along all the faces. Eric: Thanks Brian! Let’s get started showing
you in less than 20 minutes how to make this easy cushion from start to finish. We’ll
start by cutting the foam to size. Brian: What we’re going to do to start with
is we need to start with our dimension of our finished cushion. Now our finished cushion
we desire to be 40½” long by 19”. This is a square cushion so adding a ¼” to each
dimension really just means we’re going to add ½” to the length and ½” to the
width. Eric: Step 1: Cut the foam to the desired
size plus ¼” to all sides of the foam. Brian: So my length is going to be 41”.
Okay so there’s our 41”. What I did here is I actually split our table in two. This
may not always be possible, but it’s easiest to get a good straight line if you can follow
the edge of the table. The length of our foam is going to require me to support both sides.
If you have it just hanging off, then your foam’s…you’re not going to get a straight
cut. So I’ve got my cut line, as you can see right along the edge of the table, and
so what I’m going to do is just take my knife and follow the line. Eric: To cut the foam, we’re using an electric
kitchen knife. Be sure not to do this on a table that you’re concerned about damaging.
Try to hold the knife as straight as possible so your cut is straight and true.
Brian: When you get to the very end, you probably will need to hold the foam. Eric: Making a lot of cushions? You may want
to consider purchasing the Acu-Cutter 350 from Sailrite. It has a base that helps guide
the blade making it easier to keep your cuts straighter.
The foam is cut to size. Now it’s time to pattern the bottom plate. Brian: What we’re going to do now is we’re
going to go ahead and trace this onto our underlining material. For this project we’re
using Cushion Underlining material. What this is is it’s a breathable fabric and it has
a little bit of a grippy texture to it so that way it doesn’t slide as much on the
application. Eric: Step 2: Use foam and trace around it
on the fabric. Then draw a new line ¼” inside that first line. Brian: Okay we’re going to trace a line
on the outside. We want to make sure not to compress our foam as we go. Eric: We’re using a high density foam that
is rated as firm from Sailrite. This foam will last 10+ years, even if used often. And
as you can see, it provides excellent support for the occupant and is very comfortable. Brian: Now what we need to do is we need to
draw a line ¼” in all the way around and that will be our actual cut line. Eric: Visit Sailrite.com to see more choices
of high density foam in size, thickness, and firmness ratings. It’s now time to cut the
cushion underlining material to size. Brian: This cuts well with scissors, but if
you have a rotary cutter and rotary cutting mat, I like to do it this way. You have good,
crisp lines that way. We’re cutting along that inside line. So effectively, what we’re
doing here, is we’re cutting this underlining material a ¼” smaller than our foam. Which,
if you remember, our foam is a ¼” larger than our desired cushion size. So effectively,
this underlining is going to be the size of our desired finished cushion. Now the reason
that I’m cutting in the manner I am is I’m cutting the fabric that’s outside of my
ruler is going to be the scrap material. Basically this is my finish. I want to cut outside because
if I mis-cut like that, it doesn’t really matter. Alright, while I have this plate like
this, what I want to do is fold it in half each direction and just go ahead and make
a pencil mark. What this is doing is this is marking the center of each panel, or each
side. We’ll explain that in a bit. Eric: Box cushions require an opening for
the foam to be inserted inside the cover. Coming up next, we’ll install a zipper to
the bottom side of our plate. Brian: Okay we’re going to start by lining
up our zipper. We’re going to cut it about 4”-5” too long. Eric: Step 3: We’ll baste and sew a zipper
to the bottom plate. Brian: I’m going to go ahead and separate
the tape just slightly. Now the key with a locking slider is it almost takes three hands.
You have to be pulling on the zipper tab as you’re moving it forward. It’s even a
little harder when you’re trying to hold it where the camera can see it. Eric: The seven steps to make this quick and
easy box cushion will be listed at the end of this video. Brian: There we go. So we’ve got our zipper
started. Now we don’t want to zip it all the way; we’re just going to go ahead and
get it started. As you can see, the zipper is closed on both sides. We’re using ¼”
tape for this entire project. On the zipper it’s important because it ensures that you’re
keeping the basting tape completely away from the zipper teeth. When we’re using this
in other places, we’re using the ¼” tape because we’ll be using a 3/8” seam, and
using a ¼” tape for a 3/8” seam ensures that the tape will be inside of the cushion;
not outside and exposed. Eric: Peel off the transfer paper and the
glue will be revealed. Brian: We’re going to baste this teeth down.
You can see that I’m pulling the tape as I go because the basting tape does stick quite
well to this underlining material, and I’m just peeling as I stick. What I’m going
to do is I’m going to start, oh, roughly 1”-1 ½”-2” away from the edge. You
can see that my zipper foot is lined up along the outside of the zipper teeth. Now we’re
on the backside, but if you just feel you can kind of see where they’re at. So we’ll
start sewing. Do a couple backstitches at the beginning. Eric: For indoor cushions, we recommend using
a Nylon thread. For outdoor, use a Polyester. We’re using V-69. For lighter fabrics like
this, you can also use an upholstery thread. Brian: When we get to the end, we lift and
turn 90 degrees. Now what we’re going to do is we’re going to sew across the teeth.
We’re going to go ahead and go back and forth once that way we’re putting three
sets of stitches across. Eric: Notice when Brian rotates the fabric,
the needle is buried. Brian: Lift the foot, go ahead and pull that
material through, drop our foot again, and sew towards the other end. I’m going to
stop even with my other one there. Once again, do a few backstitches. Now what we’re going
to do is put our slider forward. Eric: To push the slider back, Brian uses
his scissors. Brian: Okay, what we’ve done is we’ve
just slid our slider onto the sewn tape. Now we’re going to do a couple rows of stitches
across. What that’ll do is that will contain our slider so it can’t come off the end.
What we’re going to do is we’re going to cut just a little bit. We want to make
sure we’re not cutting our zipper teeth, but rather just cutting a little hole to get
our scissors into. Then just cut a slit. Since we used the cushion underlining material,
it doesn’t ravel on us. So we don’t have to worry about this edge. If you were using
a fabric that would unravel, then you would need to do a finished edge here. With this
material, just cut it; you’re good to go. Eric: Here comes the fun part. We will use
our decorative fabric for the top plate. This plate will include our facing for the sides
of the cushion. Brian: What we want to do is take our cushion
and lay it out in the general area we’re going to go. Eric: Step 4: Trace around foam on wrong side
of fabric. Then subtract ¼” from foam thickness and draw a second line out from that measurement
on the top plate. Let’s let Brian explain it. Brian: You want to make sure that the front
of your cushion is…make sure you’re following the pattern, if there is a squared off pattern,
make sure you’re doing that. The other thing too is we’re going to have to extend this
out a bit because this is actually going to be our sides also. So just take your foam,
go onto each side, and make sure you have plenty of extra material before you start
tracing to ensure you can get enough out of the edge. Then we’re going to go ahead and
trace our foam. Okay, we’ve got our foam traced; pull that off. Okay, now what we need
to do is measure the thickness of our foam. Now we know we have 3” foam here, but it’s
always good to double check and we can see that yes, it is 3”. Now what we’re going
to be doing is we’re going to add the same amount of fabric as our foam minus a ¼”.
So you’ve got 3” foam so we’re going to add 2 ¾” to each side. Just trace each
line. This outside line will be our cut line. Eric: Step 5: Extend lines at corners and
cut out the plate at each square of fabric at the corners. Then baste and sew at each
corner. This forms the plate and facing edges. Brian: Now what I need to do is take my original
lines, which is the outside edge of the foam, and I need to extend each of those lines all
the way to, or really just a little bit beyond, my cut line. We’re going to go ahead and
use a cutting mat and rotary cutter for this. With this fabric you can use scissors, you
can use a hotknife; really any preferred technique. Eric: To keep the edge of a synthetic fabric
from unravelling, use a hotknife. We recommend the Sailrite Edge Hotknife, if you prefer
that rather than scissors or rotary cutter. Brian: Now what we’re going to do is where
we extended these lines beyond, we’re going to go ahead and cut out each of those corners;
just stop right at the corner. Now that we’re on our face side, we’re going to add ¼”
basting tape to each corner. And the reason we tear this as opposed to cut it is it makes
it easier to pull the paper off. Eric: The Seamstick is being added to the
outside surface of the fabric. Brian: Now for each corner, just go ahead
and separate our tape, and then you want to use it to baste the corner together. The key
is you want these edges to match up. So we’ll do that for each one. Okay we’re going to
take this to the sewing machine now. What we’re going to do is we’re going to set
up for a 3/8” seam. So we’ll measure and we’ll set our guide. There we go. Eric: This straight stitch is approximately
3/8” away from the edge of the fabric. He does some reversing at the beginning and the
end of his stitch to lock the stitch in place. He’ll do this for each of the four corners.
You’ll notice that he’s not cutting the trailing threads. He’s simply moving to
each of the four corners and sewing them. Then when he’s done, he’ll go back to
those trailing threads and cut them close to the fabric. Let’s move on.
Brian: What we want to do is just fold each side in half and just give ourselves a little
mark there for the center. Eric: Earlier we placed marks on the bottom
plate. These marks will be used to match up the two assemblies when it comes time to baste
and sew. You’re almost done. It’s now time to sew our assembly together to make
the cushion cover. Brian: Now remember this is the face, or the
bottom, of our zipper. This is the inside. So we want to go outside. We’re going to
put a row of basting tape all around the edge. Eric: Step 6: We’ll baste the top plate’s
incorporated facing to the bottom plate and then sew it up. Brian: We didn’t cut our zipper off earlier
so we’ll do that now. Just pull that back and just cut right through it there. Just
make sure your other end is away from your seam. We’re going to go ahead and cut a
little bit of that off too so it doesn’t get in our way. You can do this with pins.
Some people also choose to line it up and do it as they sew. I like to do the basting
tape, and basting tape sticks pretty well to these fabrics. It just enables you to get
it all put together and just makes the sewing process go a little faster. Now we’re going
to get our actual cushion material. We’re going to get it face down, expose our basting
tape. What we want to do is the marks that we made, we’re going to go ahead and line
those marks up. What we’re doing is we’re getting the center of each one set and then
we’ll get the corners set and everything else we’ll kind of guide to make sure it
should all be the same. But it just helps to make sure we have a nice good, square cushion. Eric: One of the main advantages to using
basting tape to baste this assembly to the bottom plate is that if you get something
that doesn’t line up perfectly, you can un-baste it and re-baste it until you’re
happy with the results. Then you can take it to the sewing machine and sew it. Because
we are using a ¼” wide Seamstick for canvas from Sailrite, we know that when we take this
assembly to the sewing machine and sew a 3/8” seam, we will not sew through the basting
tape ensuring that when the cover is turned right side out, the tape will not be visible. Brian: What we’re going to do is we still
have our guide set up for a 3/8” seam so we want to start just inside of that seam
and make sure we’re not catching our material on the backside, which we’re not. Eric: We’re using the world famous Sailrite
Ultrafeed LS-1 Sewing Machine. This is a straight stitch walking foot sewing machine. Also available
is the Sailrite Ultrafeed LSZ a straight/zigzag sewing machine. Brian: And bring yourself to just short of
the edge a little bit right there, lift your foot, turn, and just work your material under
like so, drop your foot, and sew. Eric: We’ve chosen to use Geobella fabric,
which is 100% Olefin yarns. Geobella is a superior quality design fabric great for indoor
and outdoor applications. Geobella is virtually indestructible and wears like iron making
this a life proof fabric for any home. Order your favorite pattern and color at Sailrite
today. Last step, insert the foam. Brian: What we do is in front of our zipper
here we just go ahead and separate the zipper and pull it right side out. Eric: Step 7: Turn cover right side out, insert
foam and push into corners and edges. Brian: As you do, you’re going to want to
go ahead and take your hand and get your corners worked square. At the end of the day there’s
not really a right way or wrong way or easy way to get the foam in. It just depends on
how you prefer to wrestle your alligators! Now that we are inside, now what we need to
do is basically go around the whole cushion and just get things worked into the proper
place. Things really do look good when it’s all squared up. Eric: Don’t go away. The materials and tools
list is coming up, and the seven step process guide that should help you navigate your next
cushion project. Brian: You kind of get to a point where you
just don’t think you can do a whole lot more. Then go ahead and zip it up, and then
you can still take and kind of work things around from there. Our desired size was 19”
x 40 ½”. So if I line up my ruler you can see edge to edge about 19”, and if you line
this up we’re pretty much right at our 40 ½” mark. I’m Brian with Sailrite. Thank
you for watching. Eric: We made two cushions for our seating
area and a few throw pillows with coordinating fabrics from Sailrite. As you can see, they
look awesome and are very comfortable. Here’s the materials list and tools we used to make
these cushions. You will find hundreds of great décor and upholstery fabrics from Sailrite.
Pick yours today. Sailrite recommends using a high density foam for cushions that will
see daily use. Coming up next is the seven step guide. After watching this video and
purchasing your supplies and tools from Sailrite, you should be ready to make this quick and
easy DIY cushion project. Feel free to pause and study this list as you make your own.
It’s your loyal patronage to Sailrite that makes these videos possible. I’m Eric Grant,
and from all of us here at Sailrite, thanks for watching.
They could be play cousins at least.