whiptips: making cushion covers
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My roommate and I just went shopping for a sofa, and we found a great, comfy, clean one for 70 dollars! The only problem is…it’s lavender. With swirls and everything. Turns out the lavender is just a slipcover, and the sofa itself is white. Great news! But then we find out that the sofa cushions, as lovely made as they are, aren’t white on the inside. Just lavender. So, I was wondering if there were any tutorials out there on to how to make a couch cushion cover. We don’t need a whole slipcover, just a way to make cushions. I am an advanced beginner sewer, meaning I can make a lot of things but can’t put in zippers, so velcro will end up being the way to go. Is it just a matter of measuring the sides and making a box? Or is there some secret that I don’t know about?
Any help would be great!
-Sarah
June 5th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
Sarah
I have recovered cushions for sofas a number of times. It is a great way to freshen up an old sofa.
Yes – essentially you make a box, and put the foam into the square. For the opening – you could of course use velcro – I would place this at the back of the cushion. Put it in the centre of the back side section of the box.
Alternatively, I have actually just made the box, put in the foam, and then hand stitched the opening closed. If you make this so it can be undone when you want to remove the cushion overs and wash them.
Otherwise, spray them with something like Scotchguard to make the stain not stick on the cushion.
You can unpick the present cushion covers and use that as a pattern for your new cover if you wanted. Although, if the original cover is in reasonable good condition, I leave them on to provide an extra layer of protection on the cushion.
Have fun – give it a go, and see what you can do
Janet McKinney
June 5th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
JCaroline has a GREAT tutorial for upholstering that’s quite simple, and worked for me. It took me about 10 hours to do it, but it was worth it.
I believe all you need is a sewing machine, some zippers (you could salvage them from the old cushions), fabric, and a staple gun…
June 5th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
I have made cushions both with and without a zipper (zippers are really not that hard – just a straight seam!) – but for sofa cushions I like to make my box and put the cushion in, then sew it closed so it looks finished all the way around – that way I can rotate the cushions to even out the wear and get the covers to last longer. For your first one I would not recommend anything with a directional pattern like stripes -they can get tricky. If you can find some bargain fabric, make one to try out the technique before spending the money on more expensive fabrics. Good luck!!!
June 9th, 2008 at 8:38 pm
Hi – before you say no to a zipper, which is really a ot better because they stay put and don’t get imbedded with the usual sofa crumbs and threads – please check out the tutorial at this site:
http://houseonhillroad.typepad.com/
I HATED zipper-sewing – but I followed this set of instructions and the result was terrific. The tut is for sewing a zipper into a pillow, but exactly the same principle can be followed for sewing a zip into one side of your “box”.
Good luck!!