Hard wood chairs are so much more comfortable when they have a chair cushion on the seat but when you go to the store to purchase a set, they’re often in off-the-wall patterns that would never match your kitchen decor. You can make the chair pads yourself without too much effort with about 3 yards of fabric chair pad and a little foam. The foam can be a half inch thick, or most any thickness, depending upon how fluffy you want them to be. The thicker the foam, though, the harder it will be to sew the sides of the cushion.

The fabric can also be just about anything: corduroy, cotton, nylon or denim, but try to select something that will be easier to manipulate while sewing.

Wash and dry the fabric so that when you launder the chair pads later, they won’t shrink. Lay the fabric out on a table, right sides together, and measure your chair seats. Use construction paper or something similar to make a pattern. The easiest way to make a pattern piece is to measure the length and width of the chair, mark them on the paper, then cut the paper slightly larger than this size. Place the paper on the chair and now cut or draw any curves or unique angles onto the paper. Be sure and mark where the chair pad ties will need to be. After you’re satisfied that the one piece of paper is the correct size of the chair seat, you’ll cut 8 pieces of cloth, all the exact size as your pattern, marking the tie placement on each. The 8 cushion ties should be about 12 inches long and an inch wide, but make adjustments, if needed, according to the design of your chair.