This was a fun project to work on. When JoAnn Fabrics reached out about the outdoor campaign I immediately said YES! Why you ask? Have you seen my backyard? It lacked color, fun, warmth and overall, it wasn’t really me. I never went out there. I would close the blinds to the patio so no one could look out. However, I had a nice canopy that we hung lights from but honestly, I wasn’t really interested in the backyard.

Well, this project and the gorgeous solarium fabrics have me excited to not only entertain outside, but to redecorate. I wasn’t sure what feel I was looking for. I love bright colors and often time lean to neutral colors when thinking of relaxation. The creams, black, white and hints of green. I saw tans and thought I wanted a spa zen/boho vibe but remembered that I tried that before and though I love that feel for my bathroom and when staying at resorts I wanted more color this time for the patio.

I headed to JoAnn’s for a fun fabric trip. I always enjoy those, don’t you!? There are tons of Solarium fabric options as well as outdoor fabric choices. I looked at all of them, felt them, imagined them but I kept coming back to this printed red and white print as well as a leaf print. I was torn and left empty handed. That is right I was so stuck because in my head I had so many ideas and needed a plan.

A few days later I returned and my thoughts and feelings for the initial fabrics didn’t change. I was sold.  I thought I would only sew pillows to add a splash of color and repurpose the cushions and seat covers I had.  They were dirty I thought, but after careful inspection and a wash of the covers they were unsuasible and in horrible shape.  So back to JoAnn’s I went. Yeah, I think I give any excuse to go there…lol.

I now needed to get fabric for chair covers as well as a cushions. I settled on a nice neutral color that complimented the pillow fabric as well as my previous chair covers.  For the cushions I tried the new JoAnn Nufoam fabric that is great for outdoors. It is cut by the yard and doesn’t require the additional batting that I had on my previous cushions. I also picked up a bottle of scotchgard outdoor water shield as an extra protectant even though the Solarium fabric is treated.

Once I got home, I measured all the pillows and cushions and got to work.  As they say sewing is math and I needed to pull out the calculator for this one. My cushions measure 20×40 and 20×20 with a 2 inch depth for both for the cushion. I created box corners by cutting ½ of the depth and my fabric measurements were as follows: 40 for the length + 2 for the depth and 1 inch for the seam allowance. For the width I did the same however I added 2 additional inches for the depth. There were many calculating tools out there and I used a few to get the right size. I ended up having to cut a .5 inches from the large cushion but for the smaller ones they fit like a glove. With the foam I needed also cut that to size. Make sure to have some good scissors and some strong fingers because that is a heavy task.

Once I did a bit of clean up, I added the cushions, pillows and instantly I wanted to be outside.

This is the first time in years that I enjoyed my backyard. Will you be updating your patio furniture this spring?