Are your patio cushions looking a little dated and ragged? Learn how to make your own drop cloth patio cushion covers to inexpensively update them!

We have had our patio furniture for many years now, but it is such good quality furniture that is has held up excellently! However the cushion covers were starting to look a little faded, and not to mention dated! I knew it was time to either replace the cushions or make some new covers. I figured I would try my hand at making some DIY drop cloth patio cushion covers first. After all, if they did not turn out, I could always buy some!

Our furniture is very deep which makes for a nice big chair to sit in. However after seeing the cost of new deep cushions sets, I was glad I decided to try making them! I checked out different fabrics as well. I wanted to go with a neutral tan color for the cushions so I could easily change out the pillows and accent colors if I wanted. Looking at outdoor fabric and the amount I needed, those costs were going to add up quickly too!

I have made other things out of drop cloths in the past like curtains, pillow covers and table runners so I knew it was a sturdy fabric. Now granted it is not an outdoor fabric but I had plans to add some Scotchgard on the covers if needed. Luckily we have a covered patio that the furniture is under all of the time so it does not get exposed to too many elements. Here is the before picture of the patio furniture. 

And here is an after… much better, amirite?

So buckle up for the tutorial! This will show you how to make your own new DIY drop cloth cushion covers for only about $10 per set (back and seat)! That is of course assuming you already own the equipment needed to sew the covers. If you can reuse your zippers, it can save you even more!

Supplies to make cushion covers

*There are links to products in this post that I use or are similar to products I use. If you buy something from one of these links, I may make a small commission (with no additional cost to you) from the purchase. I will not recommend anything that I would not buy myself.

• Canvas Drop Cloths (I bought 2 initially but should have bought 3, read on to find out why!)
• 24″ zippers
• Sewing machine (this is a newer version of the one I use)
• Cutting mat, rotary cutter and 24″ ruler – this is optional, you can just use scissors to cut your fabric but this makes cutting fabric so much easier!
• Thread
• Scissors
• Iron
• Tape Measure
• Long board to use as a straight edge – I used an extra piece of trim we had around

Make your pattern

So if you are going to sew box cushion covers, you need a pattern, right? Well, don’t panic because you already have one. 🙂 It is in the cushion covers you are replacing! All you have to do is take one set apart. You will need to do this to both the seat cushion cover and the back piece. Remove all the padding/filling from the cushions (I recommend doing this outside as it can make a bit of a mess depending on what yours is stuffed with). Save the padding and fillings as you will be using these to fill the new cushion covers. Remove all the seams and lay the pieces out flat.

Measure each different piece you will be using and determine what size of seam allowance they used. Mine were a 1/2 inch seam allowance so that is what I used. I wanted to make the most of the two 6′ x 9′ drop cloths so I figured out how to best use the material. Yours will be different depending on the size and number of your cushions but you can use the same idea. Remember to add one inch to the width of the piece that has the zipper on it. Here is my wonderful plan I so meticulously outlined. It was going to work out great! 😉

Best laid plans…

I did not wash the drop clothes first as I was not planning to dry them in the dryer when I washed them down the road, so I did not have to worry about them shrinking. And if you have ever washed and dried a whole drop cloth, you know it can be really hard to iron out the wrinkles afterward. So I got to work and started measuring, marking and cutting my drop cloths.

However, the best laid plans of mice and men, yadda yadda, things went awry. On the second drop cloth with the bigger pieces, I did mark my lines like I did on the first one as seen below. So guess what I did? You got it, I started cutting it the wrong way and now there was not going to be enough drop cloth to cut all the pieces I needed. No problem though, I will just head out and buy another of the SAME brand drop cloth from the SAME store and we should be golden.

Not quite, because the new drop cloth I bought was from a different dye lot! Of course I did not figure this out until I got home and compared the new drop cloth to the first ones. Oh well, really there was nothing I could do at that point unless I wanted to buy more and repeat all the work I did already. No thanks! And the kicker is that I liked the coloring of the new drop cloth even better. Ha!

So a couple of the backs of my cushions are a different shade but no one will ever know. Well, except all of you because I have to tell you all my mistakes. 🙂 Anyway, my advice to you, unless you are better at cutting than me, is to buy an extra drop cloth just in case something goes wrong. You can always use it for pillows later anyway!

Sewing on the zipper

This is probably the most challenging part of the whole cushion. However, I have an easy way to sew on zippers. I go more into detail about it on that post, but I will give you a quick overview today. 

Cut the zipper panel in half lengthwise.

Sew those two pieces together with a 1/2 inch seam and iron the seam open. Lay the zipper on the seam upside down.

Sew around the edges of the zipper making sure to backstitch on the ends. You will have to partially unzip the zipper towards the end to get around the actual zipper. If you have an actual zipper foot attachment, it makes it a little easier to go around the zipper but it is not necessary.

After the zipper is totally sewn on, take your seam ripper and carefully rip out the seam you just sewed. 🙂 Voila! You now have a sewn on zipper with no fuss!

How to sew a box cushion cover

Sew together the zippered panel with the long strip to make one whole piece (the boxing) that will go around the side of the cushion. Pin the zippered portion down to one of your seat cushion panels with the rest of the boxing laying straight off to the side. One other nice thing about drop cloths is that you don’t have to worry about the wrong and right side of the fabric as it all looks the same.

Important: Start sewing 1/2 inch in at the beginning of this seam. This allows you to join up the seam at the end of the boxing. Continue sewing the zippered portion down until you get to 1/2″ from the end of the seat cushion panel. At this point, keeping your needle down, lift your presser foot and turn the fabric to sew down the next side. Before you start sewing, place the boxing strip under the corner so that it is now parallel with the side. Then fold the zippered portion back down onto the boxing and continue sewing down the side.

Continue sewing the boxing along all sides, repeating this at the corners. Some people like to snip around the corners of the boxing to allow it to turn easier but I didn’t find that necessary.

When you come to the end of the boxing strip, stop sewing 1/2″ from the beginning seam where you sewed the zipper panel on. If you have some extra fabric on the boxing strip at the end, cut that extra fabric off so it is even with the seam. 

Join the two corners together.

Sew together those sides making sure the rest of the fabric is out of the way.

Now you have your boxing completely sewn onto your seat cushion panel.

Sew on the top panel

The last thing to do is to add on the top panel for the seat cushion cover. Lay your panel with the boxing flat on the table and add the other panel on top of it. I would suggest pinning down the sides so you do not get shifting as you sew it on. Then just sew the two panels together.

Truth time update…

So I actually made these cushion covers 2 years ago but are just now sharing the post. You know, life gets in the way sometimes. Ha! However, the advantage to that is that I get to give you an update on how they have done in that time. They have held up GREAT! The only issue I had with them is that when I went to wash one recently. A couple of the cut edges started fraying past the seam so you could see it on the cushion. 🙁 I would have done something differently if I would have known this, but that is where you make out from my mistake! 

At this point, I usually just cut the seam edges with a pinking shears to avoid fraying. Evidently that is not good enough with drop cloths. I would suggest either serging the edges if you have a serger. If not, you could try a zig-zag stich along the edges.  The other option, or additionally, is to use some Fray Check along the edges.

Back to your regularly scheduled program…

Turn the cushion cover right side out and poke out the corners.

Add your cushions/filling back in and zip closed. A little wrestling with your cushions and swearing may be involved in this part, but don’t worry I won’t tell anyone! 😉

Enjoy your DIY Drop Cloth Patio Cushion Covers

All that is left is to put the cushions on and admire your hard work! 🙂 I am super happy with how they turned out and held up. I did not end up adding any Scotchgard to them, I had all intentions to, but never got around to it. If yours are going to be exposed to more elements, I would absolutely suggest it. 

I will be back soon to share our whole patio update, until then have a great week!