DIY bench cushion

Before I get into today's topic, I want to thank all of my family and friends for throwing us the most amazing baby shower this past Saturday! Everyone worked so hard to make it a memorable day for us. It was just perfect and we got so many wonderful gifts for our little girl. She is so loved already! I'll be sharing pictures from the shower later this week, so come back to see those!


Ok, so here we go...

A few weeks ago (before I even started this blog) I made a bench cushion. Luckily, I took some pictures during the process, so I thought I’d share it all with you today!

I’ve been using this TV stand as bench in my foyer. We used to use it for a TV…until my husband convinced me that we should move that TV into our bedroom! I was determined to give this piece a new purpose since it was only a couple of years old and in perfect condition.

The only problem with turning this TV stand into a bench was that it didn’t look too inviting to sit on, so I decided it needed a cushion. Originally, I tried to find something pre-made, but nothing I found was the right size. Not only that, but the fabrics on the pre-made cushions weren’t quite what I had in mind either. 

I figured it couldn’t be too difficult to make my own, so I thought I'd give it a shot! I’m certainly not a professional seamstress by any means, so I pretty much just figured out things as I went along.

The first thing I needed was 2 inch thick foam. I decided 2 inches would work best for this project, but there are many other sizes out there to choose from. I found my foam cushion at Online Fabric Store. I found their pricing to be much cheaper than my local fabric stores, even with the cost of shipping factored in. I got the 2 x 24 x 54 Upholstery Foam. It wasn’t the exact length or width that I needed, but I took care of that later. They sell custom cut foam, but it’s more expensive and I was trying to do this project for as little as possible.

For the fabric, I went with this floral fabric (*sorry, it is no longer available online!*) from Fabric Guru.

It was only $5.95 a yard. I roughly estimated that I would need 2 yards for my bench cushion, but I ended up ordering 3, just in case I made a mistake! 

To start my cushion, I cut my foam to the exact size that I needed. To do this, I simply sat the foam on top of my bench and made lines using a ruler and a marker where I would need to make my cuts. The best thing to use to cut foam like this is an electric knife. I have this one: 

It was super easy to use. Sorry…no pictures of this step! I didn’t think it was safe to have a camera in one hand and an electric knife buzzing away in the other! 

Once I had my foam cut to size, I laid it on my dining room table and placed the fabric on top of it.

I cut the fabric leaving about an inch and a half for the seam allowance. 

I cut little strips of fabric for the sides, again leaving extra for the seams. Then I just started pinning my pieces together. 

Here it is with all the side pieces pinned to the large top piece of fabric.

Then, I just got to sewing!

Once I had the side pieces sewn to the top piece, I put it back on the foam to make sure the fit was ok.

It looked good, so then I finished the corners.

For the back piece of fabric, I wanted to make it pocket-like so that I could easily remove the cover when I want to wash it. I cut a piece of fabric that would cover a little more than half of the backside of the foam so that once I got the other side on, it would overlap so the foam wouldn’t be exposed in the middle.

I repeated the same process for the other side using just a little less fabric.

And….

Voila!

Now I can easily remove the foam when I want to wash the cover.

In case you’re wondering, I had a little over a yard of fabric left over. Here’s a rough cost breakdown for the project:

Foam cushion plus shipping: $21.64

3 yards of fabric at $5.95/yd plus shipping: $22.84

TOTAL: $44.48 

Not bad for a completely customized cushion! Of course, I could have saved an extra $5.95 had I not bought the extra yard o fabric, but I’m ok with that…I’m sure I’ll use it again for a future project!

Have you sewn anything lately? What are some of your favorite places to shop for fabric? Let me know in the comments!