How to Make Patio Furniture Covers
Porches and patios are becoming more like outdoor living spaces as designers introduce more comfortable and stylish options for furniture and accessories. Quality outdoor furniture can be quite the investment, so it’s a good idea to protect it from birds, insects and foul weather. A simple way to get this protection is with patio furniture covers. With the help of our latest video, you can learn how to sew these covers yourself.
Sewing your own outdoor furniture covers allows you to create a tailored fit and customize to your taste. Make your covers bright for a cheery look or downplay in the winter with a subtle gray. Select a fabric that is weatherproof and also breathable. Breathability is important for preventing moisture buildup under the cover (aka: mold and mildew). Fabrics like Sunbrella Marine Grade, Surlast, or Maritime are all great options.
Learn step-by-step how to pattern, sew together, and add a tensioning device (so your cover stays in place!) to an outdoor cover. This video features an Adirondack chair cover, but the principles can be used for making covers for chairs, loveseats, grills, tables or anything else you need to cover.
Materials Needed:
- Fabric (we used the New Maritime Poly/Cotton Marine Fabric)
- Dura Skrim Patterning Material
- Seamstick 3/8″ Basting Tape
- V-92 Thread
- #1 Spur Grommets (optional)
- 1/4″ Shock Bungee Cord (optional)
Find all the materials needed for this project, including the perfect all-weather fabric, at www.sailrite.com.
How are you decorating and protecting your outdoor living space this season? Share your ideas with us in the comments!
Do-It-Yourself Advice Blog. 
I love all the How to Do It patterns even though don’t make them. They do give me ideas for other things. Right now I am trying to find a part for my Thompson walking foot. I didn’t see one on your website.
Maybe I can help you. We do carry some parts for the Thompson machine. Which part are you looking for?
Hey, this is great stuff! How about this for an idea? I mess around a bit with RV’in stuff, and I’ll bet many of your customers do too. Pls do a HOW TO… Make a BIB for the front of your Motorhome!?
Thx, I learn a lot from your videos, keep up the great work!
TonyT
Thanks for the suggestion! We’ll see what we can do.
Can the Maritime fabric be cut with the hot knife?
Maritime should be scissor cut. It will cut with a hotknife, but because it is partially cotton you will hear a sizzling noise and smell unpleasant fumes.
This post is really incredible, one of the most helpful I have ever read,indeed.
I would love to try making my own set of patio furniture. My mother always used to make a bunch of quilts, so I bet she would enjoy doing this as well. I will have to ask her if she would be interested in helping me out. I would love to have a homemade bench on my patio.
Jayden Eden | http://www.durakool.com/products.htm
Nikki, I just came back from France and my wife bought a leather bag from a guy who showed me his machine. He had a foot for his machine that would inter-fold two pieces of material in one pass an make a full French seam. I would sure like to see one for the LZ1. Any hope? -Mark
Hi Mark,
While we are always working on improvements for the Ultrafeed machines we don’t have anything like this in the works. So unfortunately, right now it looks unlikely. Sorry!
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