These cushion covers are so easy to make that my 12 year old daughter made them – her first, slightly nervous try with a sewing machine. They’ve been made with the same material for both back and front sides (the plaid one was an old skirt and the flowered one a leftover length of dress material).
But they can also be made with the front side in fancier, perhaps more expensive material, or to co-ordinate with existing furnishings, while the backs are made of plain lining material. This is also a good cheat if you have only a limited amount of your ‘feature’ fabric.
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It’s possible to make a cushion cover from 2 pieces of material, sewn round on 3 sides, turned, cushion pad inserted and closed by hand-stitching down the remaining side. Easy perhaps, but the hand-sewn section has to be un-picked everytime the cover needs to be washed. A zip-closed one works well for washing but zips are not very easy for the beginner to insert. Instead the cushion covers I’m going to show you have a pillowcase type opening – easy to make and easy to wash – the best of both worlds.
Step1 – measure the cushion pad
The front of the finished cover needs to be 2cm larger, all round, than the pad. For the envelop back you need 2 pieces which need to be the same measurement in one direction, and half the width of the cushion plus 10cm in the other. So, a cushion 35cm square needs a piece 37cm square and 2 pieces 37cm x 27.5cm. You can also: Download our cushion template
Step 2 – turning the seams
Turn under 1cm on one of the longer edges of the back pieces and tack in place. Then turn the same edge back 5cm, pin or tack in place and machine down.
Step 3 – tack first back piece into place
Place the front piece with the right side of the material upwards and tack one of the back pieces in place, right side of material down, raw edges matching and the hemmed one down the centre but slightly off-set
Step 4 – tack other back piece into place
Position and tack the other back piece over it, again with the raw edges matching those of the front piece and the two back pieces should overlap by about 6 cm. Machine them in place taking 1cm seams and pivoting at the corners 1cm from the edge of the material. Machine round a second time, a little nearer the edge, to strengthen stitching and help prevent fraying
Step 5 – tidy the corners
To give neat corners when turned, stitch closer in to the corners and cut off surplus material there.
Step 5 – turn and insert cushion pad
Turn right side out and insert the cushion pad.
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Posted by Garden Theorist (unregistered) on February 2, 2010 at 4:34pm
I don't think the cover should be 2cm bigger than the pad. Making covers the same size as the pad gives more satisfactory stuffing, n'est-ce pas? Nothing worse than an understuffed cushion.