How to Make Seat Cushions for Ladder-Back Chairs
- 1). Measure your chair seat front to back and side to side. Take the side measurement twice, once where the seat meets the back and again at the front edge; many ladder-back seats are wider at the front. Add 2 inches to all of the measurements.
- 2). Trace your measurements, with the extra 2 inches allotted, on the plain muslin. Cut out the shape. This is your pattern.
- 3). Fold your material in half with the printed side in. Use the muslin to cut out as many pairs of fabric as you have chairs.
- 4). Cut the thin grosgrain ribbon into 12-inch lengths, four for each chair.
- 5). Fold a ribbon in half and slip it between two pieces of cut fabric at a corner. The folded part of the ribbon should be diagonal to the corner of the fabric, with the ends trailing toward the center. Pin it in place and repeat for the other three corners.
- 6). Pin the fabric along one side, across the front and along the other side. Place the pins so their heads are extending over the edge of the fabric; this will allow you to pull them out as you sew. Make sure all of the trailing ends of the ribbons are out of the way. Leave the edge that will be against the seat back open.
- 7). Starting at one side of the open edge, sew a seam about 1 inch in from the edge, pulling the pins out as you go. Backstitch over the folded part of the ribbons to anchor them, making sure the trailing ends do not get caught under the needle.
- 8). Turn the fabric right side out and fill the cushion with polyester fiberfill. When it is as fluffy as you want it, turn the edges of the open side under, pin them closed and then sew the cushion shut.
- 9). Spray a coat of Scotch Guard on one side of the cushion and let it dry as you move on to the next one. When all of the cushions are finished and dry, tie them to the back and legs of your ladder-back chairs with the grosgrain ribbons.
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