Making Chair Cushions Part 3

Did you miss the other parts of this tutorial? You can read part 1 here and part 2 here.

Well, here we are with the final part of this cushion tutorial. Personally the buttons were my favorite part. They just are so easy and come out so cute!

You can buy the shells of these buttons at Walmart or any craft store. They come in several sizes, so pick whichever you prefer. I used 3/4” for these. I really wanted 1” ones, but our Walmart wasn’t carrying them any more. Bummer.

To turn these buttons into beautifully matching masterpieces:

1. Cut out a circle of fabric for each button that is 1” bigger than the button.

2. Spray lightly with water. When it dries, it shrinks slightly, which makes for a nice, smooth button.

3. Center one circle of fabric over the button-maker. Place button shell over the opening, and push all the way in.

4. Tuck edges of fabric into the button shell and place back of button on top of this. Make sure the loop is facing up, or else you won’t have a way to attach your button. Minor problem.

5. Use little pushy-thingy to push the back of the button evenly into the button shell until it snaps in.

6. Push your finished button out of the button-maker.

Viola! Your buttons are now complete! And it is almost that easy to put them on your cushion:

1. Mark 4 even places on your cushion so that you can put your buttons on evenly spaced. I used chalk to make little marks on both sides of my cushion. That way I knew they would be evenly spaced on both sides.

2. Thread a long needle with several thicknesses of thread. Tie the end of the threads to the loop on the back of the button.

3. Push needle into top of cushion and pull through tight on the other side. Make sure this top button is “dimpled” however much you want it to be.

4. Here’s where I got ingenious and used a clothespin to hold the thread on the back side while I attached the other button. Otherwise you need about 5 hands to do it. It worked well!

6. Cut off needle; thread the other button on and tie it tight. Make sure you are “dimpled” on both sides of the cushion.

7. Wrap ends of thread around loop and tie a couple more times to make sure it will hold.

8. Cut off ends of thread. Please, oh please be careful that you don’t cut the cushion. That is one reason I used black thread for this, so I would be sure to tell the difference. The other reason was because it was a little thicker thread then the colored was.

And its complete! I personally think you could not beat these cushions at the store!

Did you learn anything through this tutorial? Have you ever made chair cushions before?