Updating Couch Cushion Covers/Minimal Sewing Skill Required

I enjoy sewing and have experience making things like valances and envelope pillow covers. I love looking at all the fabrics and textures available when beginning a project. All the beautiful choices can be overwhelming! Recently I was lucky enough to score a beautiful couch at a nearby yard sale. The only thing I didn’t care for was the color. That I changed to more my liking with fabric dye. If you would like to see how I did this you can find the method and products in a previous blog I recently wrote. The couch that is the subject in this blog was still a very good piece of furniture but the fabric was very discolored and faded on some areas. Other then that the wood frame and cushions were in great shape so the couch was definitely worth giving a makeover.

The discolored areas wouldn’t clean up even with heavy duty shampooing. Other areas still good looked great. Overall, still a good solid piece.

After finding a medium weight fabric on line that I thought would suit the piece I decided to try my hand at sewing some slipcovers. Since I had no experience with this kind of project I did some investigating and watched about 100 videos on easy methods to cover the cushions. This blog deals only with the method I used to cover the back cushions only.  They are similar to envelope slipcovers but the the two back pieces don’t overlap. The seat cushions were done completely different and include zipper closures.

To fit the first piece that would cover the top, front and bottom portions I placed the fabric wrong side out and pinned the fabric along the top and bottom seams to hold it in place. Then I cut the fabric and left approximately 2″ around the border of the cushion.

This was the easiest way get a good fit and keep the pattern from becoming askew while cutting the piece to fit.

This is a side view with the fabric pinned in place and the trimming complete. I then went on to cut ad fit the side pieces into place.

I cut two pieces to the approximate size and pinned them directly to the sides of the cushion. Those pieces were pinned to the front piece of fabric following around the edges of the front piece.

Once secured, I made perpendicular cuts at the corners to help the fabric form around the cushion.

• Make sure if the fabric is patterned, all three pieces are positioned so the pattern is going in the same direction before you begin to sew.

Once the three pieces were sewn together, I used a sewing machine, I turned the piece right side out and placed it on the cushion to make sure the fit was good.

To cut the two pieces for the back, I turned the piece inside out and placed it back on the cushion.  These were done the same way as the sides. I didn’t fit these pieces to overlap because I didnt want to cover the velcro strip that ran across the back that attached the cushion to the back of the couch.

To make a clean edge and keep the fabric from fraying, I sewed a hem along the edges that ran parallel to the velcro.  The back pieces were pinned to the front and sides pieces. As done previously, I removed the cover with the back pieces now pinned to the others and sewed them all together on the sewing machine. The extra fabric was trimmed close to the stitching and the corners were cut straight across for a close fit around the corners of the cushions.

Once turned right side out it fits on like an envelope slipcover and the fabric gap allows the velcro to attach to the back of the couch. I’m sure there are many other ways to assemble a cover like this but this method was easy and required very little sewing skill.

If your wanting to save money and attempt  a project like this bulk remnant fabric is the way to go.  I found eight yards of this fabric on line for $35.00. After I had finishing covering all four cushions I had only about one yard remaining. So it was definitely worth the time it took to search around on line for a pattern and weight that I liked.

• Remember to always buy more then you think you are going to need!

Now that this little makeover is finished my husband isn’t sure he wants to let this go. This was a couch he just wanted to trash!

It just maybe a good idea to keep it since he has given me the idea to recover my daughters piano bench with the remaining fabric from this project. Hmmmm…I think he just gave me my next project and blog post:)

Thank you for stopping by and if you have any questions please reach out. I’m also going to try to get a video up on my YouTube channel, Our High Street Home, about this project.

Roni♥