Patio Furniture Reupholstering

One of the major projects on my to-do list last week was to reupholster my lawn furniture. Despite it being only a year old, it has faded and therefore, looks really old. I contemplated buying another set, but I do like the comfort of these chairs and the black metal makes them heavy and it also matches out wrought iron fence which it will flank against.

The only downside to reupholstering these chairs is the price of outdoor fabric and the time it will take for me to redo it all. Here is what my patio chair looks like before:

It is so faded that it looks like it is really old.

In shopping for fabrics, I tend to lean towards the burnt orange color. I love the vibrant color, but I decided that I would steer away from it this time, leaning towards a more neutral color. I am trying to match the dining set that I bought and the other furniture that already exists (that don't need reupholstering). I ended up with these fabrics:

It is more neutral than what I normally go for in fabrics, but I think it will go well. I love the paisley.

To re-upholster, I took apart the existing furniture with a seam ripper. In doing so, I noticed that it had not faded on the other side of the fabric and if I really wanted to, I could just resew using the same fabric, just flipping the sides. In the end, I decided that I wanted a change so I used the fabric I bought instead.

I can't believe that the fabric can fade this much in a year, sitting underneath my patio. Pay the extra money and buy fade resistant fabric. It is totally worth it. I usually don't buy any cushions or pillows these days if it isn't made with Sunbrella fabric because Sunbrella is fade resistant. I have another patio set that has this fabric, and although it is over 4 years old, it still looks new.

I took the pieces and used it as a template. For the ottoman, I used the paisley fabric for the surface and the brown for the piping, while for the chairs, I used the ivory for the surface and piped it with the paisley.

Once I stitched the pieces together, I hand sewn the opening using a hidden stitch. I don't like seeing the seam so the hidden stitch is perfect for a seamless look. Here is the finished product of one of the chairs and ottoman.

I simply love how it turned out. The ivory pops out against the shrubs and fence. I ended up re-doing two club chairs, a sofa, and an ottoman.

I do have a little extra fabric so I plan on making some fun ruffly pillows for the dining set to tie the two areas together.

Sorry for the unsightly mud/sand pit you see in the background. We hadn't laid the sod when I took this picture. With sod, our set looks like this.

I cannot wait until our whole backyard is complete! My outdoor space is slowing coming together.