Home Depot Wicker Patio Furniture

eric: this video is brought to you by sailrite. visit sailrite.com for all your project supplies,tools and instructions. if you’ve got oddly shaped patio furniturethat needs to be covered, you may want to consider building your own cover since coversare often hard to find when shapes are irregular. patio furniture and the upholstery on it canoften deteriorate quickly if not protected appropriately. so we’re going to show you in this videohow to build protective covers. let’s start by patterning the top. we’re going to make outdoor covers for thiscurved sectional unit.

this actually has three pieces to it. we’re going to start with one. in the first piece i’m going to make isthe piece that goes from here all the way down to here. so i’m going to measure across the backand give myself an extra inch on each side. eric: the extra inch on each side is for seamallowance. that measurement is 54”. then i’m going to measure an inch extraback here and down to here, which would be 34”.

so i need a piece that’s 54” x 34” tostart. eric: we’re going to measure that out onour surlast fabric with marking chalk and obviously a straight edge. then we’ll cut it out with scissors. i’m going to put this piece on with thewrong side out so i can make my marks on the wrong side on this piece. eric: surlast fabric does have a right sideand a wrong side. and then clamp it with these clamps on theframe of the chair to hold it in place while i work with it.

eric: when clamping, ensure the 1” extraon each side is about equal. we’ve chosen to use a surlast fabric fromsailrite. this is a 100% polyester solution dyed material. it’s good for outdoor applications. it’s a very breathable fabric, and yet itis water resistant. excellent for covers like this. i want the rain water, snow, whatever to comeoff of this so i’m going to try to make this as sloped as i can, which is going torequire a couple of darts here. eric: these darts will take up excess fabricso the fit will be slightly tighter, depending

on how many darts are added. so i’m just folding out the fullness inthis front piece with two darts that are approximately even from one side to the other. i’ve put pins in the front corners to holdit in place while i work with it. there’s about 1” here from the pipingon the cushion to the edge of the fabric. eric: the extra inch will be used to joina front piece. i want to maintain this curve in my coverso i’m going to take my chalk and mark where the cording is on the cushion, and it’sgoing to taper out to the end over here. this doesn’t have to be a perfect mark.

just so you can cut. when we cut this, we’ll cut out 1” fromthe mark so we still have that seam allowance there. i’m also going to make a mark up here ofwhere i want this dart to end. eric: covers for furniture should be snug,but not so snug that they’re difficult to install quickly. then i’m also going to come back here andcurve the back. see how much extra there is right there beyondthe frame? i’m going to make a mark on the frame andcurve that also.

so that the back piece, when i attach it,it also curves. eric: sailrite also stocks other great brandsof outdoor storage cover fabrics. be sure to check them out at sailrite.com. i typically like to choose a fabric that iswater resistant, breathable, and also abrasion resistant. that is true of surlast fabric. this edge will stay like it is for right now. so i’m going to take this off and stitchin my two darts and trim it along my lines that i made with the chalk.

i want to have about a 1” seam allowanceon this so i’m going to measure 1” out from my initial mark and trim that extra off. just curve it up to the straight edge, andthe same thing on the other side. eric: if cut with scissors unravelling mayoccur, but surlast fabric is fairly resistant to unravelling when cut with shears. if you want to ensure that this does not happenat all, we suggest using the sailrite edge hotknife to cut the fabric. then on this side, at the front, i’m goingto stitch my darts in, and then i’m going to trim this edge off.

eric: to sew the darts, start on the edgewhere it was pinned together. do some reversing to lock your stitch in place. then sew up to the point where you want tostop the dart. this is where cindi’s finger is now. then do some reversing at that point as well. that dart is complete. now she’ll do it to the second dart forthis panel. you’ll notice that occasionally that cindiholds the trailing threads, as she did here. that is always a good idea to help to preventthe sewing machine from carrying those loose

threads and getting them bound up to createa rat’s nest on the bottom side of the fabric. if it’s not done, not a big deal. but typically rat’s nests on the bottomsides don’t look as good. so try to hold the tails when you start sewing. okay, the curve of the front of the seat onthe cushion is these blue marks, and i measured out 1”, like i did at the back, and justtrim that off. it wasn’t very much, but it makes the curveof the front of the chair. eric: we’ll only be showing patterning andsewing together of one of the three required panels for our patio set.

if you have a set like this, you may wantto pattern the other two or more for yours as you do the first one. so use the first one as a pattern for theothers. it’s your choice. i’m ready to add this front piece on tomy panel that goes across the top. so i need the height of that cushion, andit’s about 18”. so i’m going to cut this at 19”. eric: cindi measured to the floor. along the bottom edge of the cover, we willinstall a sleeve with shock cord.

it is best that the finished cover not actuallybe touching the ground, if possible. that’s why she measured from the floor up,and did not add any extra for the sleeve allowance. the width of it will be the width of thispiece. eric: this is the top panel bottom edge wherethe front will be sewn to. by 51”. eric: now she’ll cut the front panel 19”x 51” for our patio chair set. this is my 19” x 51” piece that goes downthe front of the chair, and this is the piece that we just put the darts in that goes acrossthe top of the chair. eric: this video is brought to you by sailrite.visit sailrite.com for all your project supplies,

tools and instructions. if you’ve got oddlyshaped patio furniture that needs to be covered, you may want to consider building your owncover since covers are often hard to find when shapes are irregular. patio furnitureand the upholstery on it can often deteriorate quickly if not protected appropriately. sowe’re going to show you in this video how to build protective covers. let’s startby patterning the top. we’re going to make outdoor covers for thiscurved sectional unit. this actually has three pieces to it. we’re going to start withone. in the first piece i’m going to make is the piece that goes from here all the waydown to here. so i’m going to measure across the back and give myself an extra inch oneach side.

that measurement is 54”. then i’m goingto measure an inch extra back here and down to here, which would be 34”. so i need apiece that’s 54” x 34” to start. obviously a straight edge. then we’ll cutit out with scissors. eric: when clamping, ensure the 1” extraon each side is about equal. we’ve chosen to use a surlast fabric from sailrite. thisis a 100% polyester solution dyed material. it’s good for outdoor applications. it’sa very breathable fabric, and yet it is water resistant. excellent for covers like this. even from one side to the other. i’ve putpins in the front corners to hold it in place while i work with it. there’s about 1”here from the piping on the cushion to the

edge of the fabric. the cording is on the cushion, and it’sgoing to taper out to the end over here. this doesn’t have to be a perfect mark. justso you can cut. when we cut this, we’ll cut out 1” from the mark so we still havethat seam allowance there. i’m also going to make a mark up here of where i want thisdart to end. then i’m also going to come back here andcurve the back. see how much extra there is right there beyond the frame? i’m goingto make a mark on the frame and curve that also. so that the back piece, when i attachit, it also curves. eric: sailrite also stocks other great brandsof outdoor storage cover fabrics. be sure

to check them out at sailrite.com. i typicallylike to choose a fabric that is water resistant, breathable, and also abrasion resistant. thatis true of surlast fabric. this edge will stay like it is for right now.so i’m going to take this off and stitch in my two darts and trim it along my linesthat i made with the chalk. i want to have about a 1” seam allowance on this so i’mgoing to measure 1” out from my initial mark and trim that extra off. just curve itup to the straight edge, and the same thing on the other side. to unravelling when cut with shears. if youwant to ensure that this does not happen at all, we suggest using the sailrite edge hotknifeto cut the fabric.

eric: to sew the darts, start on the edgewhere it was pinned together. do some reversing to lock your stitch in place. then sew upto the point where you want to stop the dart. this is where cindi’s finger is now. thendo some reversing at that point as well. that dart is complete. now she’ll do it to thesecond dart for this panel. you’ll notice that occasionally that cindi holds the trailingthreads, as she did here. that is always a good idea to help to prevent the sewing machinefrom carrying those loose threads and getting them bound up to create a rat’s nest onthe bottom side of the fabric. if it’s not done, not a big deal. but typically rat’snests on the bottom sides don’t look as good. so try to hold the tails when you startsewing.

out 1”, like i did at the back, and justtrim that off. it wasn’t very much, but it makes the curve of the front of the chair. panels for our patio set. if you have a setlike this, you may want to pattern the other two or more for yours as you do the firstone. so use the first one as a pattern for the others. it’s your choice. i’m ready to add this front piece on tomy panel that goes across the top. so i need the height of that cushion, and it’s about18”. so i’m going to cut this at 19”. eric: cindi measured to the floor. along thebottom edge of the cover, we will install a sleeve with shock cord. it is best thatthe finished cover not actually be touching

the ground, if possible. that’s why shemeasured from the floor up, and did not add any extra for the sleeve allowance. that we just put the darts in that goes acrossthe top of the chair. i’m going to stitch these two right sides together along the 51”length and about a â½â€ seam. eric: cindi will use pins and she will pinthose panels together. you could also use seamstick for canvas, part #129, if you’dlike in lieu of pins. that’s a double sided tape that is left in place as you sew to helphold the panels together. sometimes our customers get confused about which is the right sideand wrong side of the surlast fabric. we have a video on our website that helps explainthis. use this link here if you’d like to

see that video.to sew this panel together, we’ll be creating a semi flat felled seam. this means the firststitch will be about a â½â€ from the raw edge of the fabric, and it’ll be a straightstitch about 5mm-6mm in length. notice that cindi pulls the pins as she approaches them.once this first stitch is done, the panel will be splayed open so the outside surfaceis up. now i’m going to open this up and do a semiflat felled seam in here to make the seam a little stronger. so to do that i’m goingto push both layers of my seam up and top stitch in from the edge. the edge of the presserfoot will be my guide for that. you don’t want to catch anything but your two layersof seam underneath there.

eric: it doesn’t matter whether you sewthe two layers on the bottom side on the right side or left side. we’ve positioned themon the left side so that we could use the right side of the presser foot as a guidealong our first stitch. as cindi sews this top stitch, she pulls the panels apart sothat the center seam is pulled nice and flat. the next piece that i add on is going to bethe piece that goes down the back over here. so i’m going to measure the width of thetop of this piece, and that’s 54 â½â€. then i’m going to measure straight downfrom here to the height that i want at… eric: be sure to measure the highest pointof the chair. eric: 1” was added for seam allowance. nowshe’ll cut a panel to that size. once cut,

outside surfaces should face each other. so this is the back panel that i just cut.i’m going to follow the curve and pin it together- right sides together with the edgeseven. do about a â½â€ seam on this also. then turn it and do the semi flat felled seamon it, and then i’m going to try it on the chair again. eric: the first stitch, about a â½â€ fromthe raw edges of the fabric. after that stitch is complete all along the edge the panelsare splayed open with the outside surfaces facing up. now we’ll concentrate on a topstitch to complete this semi flat felled seam. now i’m going to do this semi flat felledseam here on this side also. make sure everything

is pushed over to one side, and that’s alli have underneath there. i’m not going to catch any other parts of it. eric: we only want to sew through the â½â€seam on the underside- that’s the two layers on the underside- and splay the panels apartas you sew. right side of the foot is up against the first stitch. when that’s done, let’stest it on the chair. i’m going to put this back on with the wrongside out so i can make marks on the wrong side. i want to make sure that i’ve gotabout the same distance off the edge over here as i do over here. so i’m going toline up my seam along the curve of the original cushion underneath and put a couple pins juststraight through into the cushion to hold

it in place. i want this to be somewhat flatacross the front. i don’t need a lot of fullness in there. i want that to fit prettywell. so what i’m going to do is find the leg underneath here, which is way back here,and make a mark approximately 1” out from where that little foot is at the bottom. thenup here, i’m going to make a mark out also about 1” from the corner of my cushion,which is right here. so there’s my mark there. then i’m going to come up here tothis corner and make a mark where the cushion starts to go down at that point. i’m goingto make another mark. so i’m going to draw a line from this mark to this mark to thismark to get the shape of this side of the chair. i’ll do the same thing on the otherside.

eric: once it’s marked, we can take it tothe table and cut off the excess. now on this one i’m not going to mark 1”out because i’ve already allowed that 1” when i was making my marks on the chair. soi’m going to draw a line from my mark at the front of the seat to the mark at the topand then from the front of the seat down to the foot of the chair, or the floor. i’mgoing to trim that out. eric: we’ll put it on the chair yet again.wrong side is out. it looks we’re going to have some extrafullness back here so i’m going to get rid of a little bit of that by angling this piecefrom this seam down in about 1” on each side.

eric: that means it’s about 1” away fromthe foot. you may need to check that on your chair andsee if it needs to be more than that. just because this is three sections, i don’twant it to be billowy in the back when we put it on. so i’m going to take a littlebit off of that first. so here’s where i’m going to get rid ofsome of the fullness in the back. i marked 1” in and i’m going to taper that up tothis top seam. i am going to do this to both sides of this. eric: our chair requires three of those samepanels total. we only showed patterning and sewing of one.

since this is three pieces, while you weren’twatching, i made the two others so that we could seam them all together and make thecomplete piece. after we put these together, we’ll put the ends on. i’m going to pinthese together at these two center seams, and then i’m going to take it to the machineand sew it. i’m going to start right here at the back and match up the back seam, andthen just let it fall where it will as it goes down. pin it at about â½â€, which iswhat my seam will be. then i can pull it to the sides and make sure it’s going to fitbefore i sew it. eric: as she’s pinning this fabric together,let’s talk about some other choices in fabric you may want to consider. if you use a vinylproduct, it’s totally waterproof. but a

vinyl fabric does not breathe. if a fabricis used as a cover that does not breathe, it’s possible that condensation will buildup on the inside, thus promoting mold and mildew to grow. so if you use vinyl, you needto put in some sort of ventilation. if using a breathable fabric, that is typically notrequired. i can see that my seam isn’t going to matchup perfectly here, and that’s okay. this does not have to be exact. i’m also goingto go around to the back and put a few pins in the back seam. okay, i have this all pinnedtogether and i’m just going from one end to the other to make sure it’s going tofit. it looks like it’s going to be a snug fit, which is okay. but this end, i stillhave about my 1” hanging off like i started

with, and the same on this end. so the nextstep is to take it off and i’m going to sew those two seams together that i just pinned. eric: those two seams will be another semiflat felled stitch. we will not show this whole process. you’ll notice that when weget to the end of our sewing, our two panels are not directly on top of each other. thatis not a big deal so do not be alarmed about it. in a later step that edge will be trimmedoff. the next thing is to do a semi flat felledseam on the seam that i just did, which is going to require putting this whole sectionunderneath the arm of the machine. so on this one you’ll have to be especially carefulthat you don’t catch another piece underneath

and just your two layers of seam underneaththere. eric: you can scroll up or roll up the fabricto get it under the arm of the sewing machine, but as you can see, this panel is not thatbig that we can’t just push the bulk of the fabric underneath the arm of the sewingmachine. so sewing large assemblies like this is actually fairly easy, even with underarmsewing machine spaces that are rather lacking. now that those panels are all sewn together,we’ll put it back on the chair. now the last thing we need to do is put theside panels on this and then put the shock cord in. so i’m going to measure my heightat the highest point from the floor, which is going to be, if i add an inch to the 33”,it would be 34”. i’m going to measure

outside the legs for my width an inch so that’sgoing to be 29”. so my piece for the side panel needs to be 29” x 34”. eric: we’ll measure and cut that size. so here is my piece that’s 29” x 34”,and i’m going to start by pinning this back seam together at â½â€ all the way down. thenthis is going to be a straight seam right across here for just this 4”-5” untili slant down. the next part i’m going to pin together is this front seam where it matchesthe front. eric: it will be pinned right on that seamat that corner. so in order to get this angle right here,i’m going to use the blue chalk, and i’m

going to hold my hand behind the fabric withthis folded over so that i can use my hand as a base to make a line all the way down to where it meets the frontpiece. that’s going to be my stitching line for this part of this seam. so this is goingto be kind of a fit as you go thing. i’m going to cut just out from my blue lines,and you’ll be able to see that it has a definite curve to it. it’s not just a straightline like this one is. so i’ll put a few more pins in and then i can take it to themachine and sew it. i’ll do the same thing over on the other side. now before i takethis off to sew those two side seams, i’m going to go all the way around and make amark where i want to cut it for my hem so

i don’t have to put it back on to do thatagain later. so i’m just going to mark where it hits the floor all the way around. eric: the sleeve that we create for the shockcord will take a few inches away from this. however, we don’t really want the coverto be touching the ground anyway. so this is a good thing. that piece is right at the floor so i’mnot going to make any marks on it. but i’m going to go all the way around and do that.now i’m ready to take this off and take to the machine and stitch this end and thatend. eric: a semi flat felled seam again will beutilized here for the sides. at any turns

or corners, the needle is typically buriedin the fabric, presser foot lifted, assembly rolled around, presser foot lowered- she’sactually going to go back a little bit because she believes she went too far- so the needle’sburied again in the fabric, the assembly is rolled, and then she continues to sew. youmust always remember to lower the presser foot before you start sewing. otherwise, you’llhave a jam. here we’re coming to an edge that has a slight curve in it. it’s nota 90 degree, but it is a curve, and she did slit the fabric less than a â½â€ on the sidethat needs to stretch. so a little slit will allow the fabric to stretch around that curvebetter. here we’re coming to almost another 90 degree turn. needle is buried in the fabric,presser foot lifted, assembly rolled around,

presser foot lowered, and then continue tosew. when you’re done sewing, be sure to push all the corners out. this will aid increating the top stitch of this semi flat felled seam. now before i turn it around and go to theother side, i’m going to do the semi flat felled seam on this one also. eric: meaning she’s already done one stitchand this is just the top stitch to complete it. we’re approaching a transition whereit takes a turn. watch what cindi does here. notice she’s rolling the balance wheel aroundby hand. then she lifts the presser foot, turns the assembly around, smooths everythingout being sure that she’s sewing through

that seam on the underside of the fabric,and then continues to sew. let’s move ahead. along the bottom edge we want to install asleeve. first we need to cut off the excess so that it meets the ground. then we’llcreate the sleeve. i’m going to draw a line along the bluechalk marks that i made along the floor so that i can turn my hem up next. then i’mgoing to trim it off on that line all the way around. eric: once it’s trimmed to size, then wecan concentrate on creating the sleeve. but before we do that, we need an opening in thefront to allow us to tension the shock cord. cindi’s going to do that next.

now i need to make a little finished spotin the center of the front for the shock cord to come through. so i’m going to find thecenter of this piece, which its 29”, so it’s 14 â½â€. then i’m going to measureout 3” on each side of that mark for my little cutout. i’m going to end up turningthis up 2 â½â€ so i’m going to mark up 2”, and then the other â½â€ is going tobe taken up with the seam. i’m going to cut this little rectangle out. then i’mgoing to take this scrap piece of fabric and put it underneath and pin it around the rectangleand take it over to the machine. i’m going to sew around the rectangle a â½â€ all theway around the three sides. i want to make sure i don’t have anything else underneathme. i’m going to cut this little rectangle

out of here. then cut to the corners withoutcutting the stitching and turn this piece to the back side. i’mgoing to put a few pins in to hold it in place and put a couple rows of stitching aroundthe perimeter of this and then i’ll trim out all the excess fabric. eric: this helps to reinforce that openingso that shock cord can come through on the backside of the cover. i’m going to do another row of stitchingaround that same edge a presser foot away just to make it a little bit stronger rightthere. eric: we’ll trim off the extra being surenot to cut into the actual cover that’s

on the outside, or underside. i’m just cutting the one layer out thati added in. eric: this reinforced opening will be on theunderside of the cover and allows us to tension the shock cord. i’m going to put the shock cord in as ipin this down so i don’t have to weave it through later. i’m going to turn it up the2 â½â€ and turn under about a â½â€ and pin it. then when i stitch i’m going to stitchright at the top edge of this. eric: as this sleeve is being created, theshock cord is inserted inside of it. so we do not have to pull it through when we’redone.

i’m going to secure this to the edge ofmy piece so that it doesn’t pull through as i’m working with it. i’m back aroundto where i started so i’m going to go ahead and cut this piece off long so it doesn’tslide back inside. then i’m ready to stitch all the way around along this edge. eric: as with all of our sewing, do a littlebit of reversing at the beginning to lock the stitch in place, and then she’ll carefullysew all the way around securing the sleeve down to the cover. now we’ll put the coverback on the chair and tension up that shock cord around the perimeter. to tension thecover, she pulls out the extra shock cord until she gets a nice, tight fit all the wayaround. the wrinkles will be gathered along

the front so she’ll use a pony clamp andtighten it over the shock cord so she can take a walk around the cover trying to distributethe wrinkles in this sleeve more appropriately all around the cover. once she’s happy,she’ll tension up the shock cord any more that she deems necessary and then tie a knot.the shock cord will have a tendency to pull the fabric away from any concave areas likehere along the front. we’ll use ties in the next chapter to bring it into the legs. now because we put shock cord in here, it’spulling this curve where the curve goes in, it’s pulling out like that. we’re goingto take care of that by adding ties at the legs, which will pull that in all the wayaround and helps secure our cover more. in

order to decide how big i want my ties, i’mgoing to take the tape measure, wrap it around the leg. if i overlap 3”-4” of velcro,a 13” tie should be big enough to attach to this and then wrap around this frame. wedon’t need to mark where we’re going to put the ties because there’s a seam at eachleg. we’re getting ready to cut the straps forthis, and i decided they need to be 13” long, and i’m going to cut them 3 â½â€wide to accommodate the 1” velcro. then i want my velcro to be 6” long so it goesalmost to the center of my strap. i’m going to take it to the machine and fold it threetimes- once in and then once on top of that and then stitch down this long edge and applythe velcro. when i apply the velcro, i’m

just going to sew around the perimeter ofthe velcro on all four sides. the other piece goes on the opposite side so that when youwrap it they connect. eric: for our cover, we need to make 8 ties.we have 8 locations, or 8 legs, that we want to install these ties. they will be installedover each seam. when i apply this to the bottom of the cover,i don’t want to stitch the shock cord. the shock cord is down here. i want to make surethat it stays down there, and i don’t catch it in my stitching. i’m going to lay itright on top of the seam so i have all those extra layers there for stability. i’m goingto do one row of double stitching, and then i’m going to scoot over just a little bitand do another row so that all the stress

isn’t on one row of stitching. i did sewit to the inside of the cover. eric: our cover for our outdoor patio furnitureis now complete. simply pull it over your furniture. the shock cord allows for quickinstallation and removal. the ties that are associated with each one of the legs- 8 legson this chair- will help secure it in high winds. to install the cover of this size,it takes approximately 1-2 minutes in total. here’s our strap that we just sewed ontothe inside of the cover, and it’s going to wrap around the leg to give it more stability.it’s a little awkward because you can’t see what you’re doing, but you can feelwith the velcro and make it as tight as you need to and then the cover pulls down overit. we have one of those at each leg. here’s

what happened when we put the shock cord in,it just flew out like a wing. so that was one of the reasons that we decided to putthe velcro on the straps. so look what happens when i strap it to the leg. it makes it muchmore secure, and it looks like it’s going to stay there now. eric: to tension the bottom edge, we pulleda lot of excess shock cord out. just cut it to whatever length you desire. the cover forthis outdoor curved patio set is now complete. here’s the list of materials and tools weused to build our protective outdoor cover for our furniture. you can find other outdoorstorage cover fabric brands from sailrite. if you have a question about what fabric touse, give us a call at sailrite. this gorgeous

patio set is now protected with a cover thatyou can make yourself. if you’d like to see other videos that are related to makinga cover for patio furniture, check these videos out. for more free videos like this, be sureto check out the sailrite website or subscribe to the sailrite youtube channel. it’s yourloyal patronage to sailrite that makes these free videos available. thanks for your loyalsupport. i’m eric grant, and from all of us here at sailrite, thanks for watching.

Home Depot Wicker Patio Furniture