Forget buying couch covers – they’re easy to make! Yes, it takes time and a bit of patience on your part, but in the end, your newly created look will give you a sense of accomplishment and lots of compliments! It’s a great way to give new life to older furniture, save your furniture from pets and children (and hubbies, all the same), and cost-conservative for those on tight budgets! Sweet deal! Let’s begin (please click on the photos for an expanded view)…
1) Use your own couch to make the pattern – do not buy a pattern – it’s a waste of your hard earned $ – besides, whatever pattern you purchase will only give you the same instructions I am giving! Make your pattern out of cheap or unwanted material, like muslin (paper patterns cannot be manipulated easily around curves, etc., and they rip…). Make sure that your descriptions on your pattern pieces are detailed enough for you to know what they are and how they should be sewn together once your fabric is cut from them. (Notice that I have made my pattern for only half of my love-seat; I did this to save time, but you can certainly make your pattern expand the whole couch, if you feel more comfortable doing it this way)
Cut pattern
2) Using the fabric of your choice, cut out your pattern (adding a 1/2 seam allowance), cutting as accurately as possible. I recommend that you use a very heavy cotton fabric, like denim, which I have used here (it just doesn’t come in blue or black!). WASH & DRY YOUR COTTON FABRIC before cutting it – you need to shrink the fabric BEFORE you transform it into your beautiful covers – if you don’t, the first time you wash and dry your covers, they may not fit your couches after! Of course, you can make your covers out of heavy poly-cotton or just poly, like a heavy gabardine – in this case, it would not be necessary to pre-wash.
Serging the seams
3) Start sewing your pieces together. I used a very tight straight stitch at first, then went back along and surged the seam to add extra strength and to control fraying. If you do not have a surger, you can go back behind your initial straight stitch and use a zig-zag (or satin) stitch, or even another straight stitch. This extra stitching is necessary because you are dealing with a very large and very heavy fitted cover – it needs to be strong and stand the test of kiddies, animals, etc., so don’t skip it!
Fitting the cover as you sew along
4) Do not sew the whole cover together at once. Each time you sew a piece together, place it on your couch and check it out. Does it need adjusted? Is it too large, too small? Chances are, if you made the pattern carefully, and cut your fabric accurately, you will not have to worry about this, but it’s always good to take little steps to insure a great outcome! Remember, the Devil’s in the details, so check the details!
Zipper closure
Further note that when constructing the BACK of the back-rest of your couch cover, you will need to add to it a zipper, fabric ties, or buttons up the middle, or on the sides (where the back connects to the arms) – if you don’t, you will never be able to get your cover ON (let alone OFF) your couch! As you can see, I placed a zipper up the middle of my couch cover, however, you can sew on fabric ties if you do not want to fuss with a zipper, or insert grommets and lace the back. It’s not necessary that this “undressing point” be up the middle of your cover – you can place fabric ties where the back of the couch cover meets the back of the arm – this little “on the side” technique gives a touch of elegance to your finished couch garment (I personally like the clean look of a zipper up the back) – it’s your creation, so be creative!
Couch skirt
5) Oh, the dreaded skirt on the bottom of the cover! For me, this was the most difficult and time consuming part of the project because I chose to place pleats at the corners and middle points of the cover – in a complimentary color at that! You do not have to do this. Once you have sewn the body of your cover together, you can simply measure out the length of your skirt (pin it around your cover while your cover is ON the couch – accuracy, accuracy! And then remove the cover with the shirt pinned in place…) and sew it to the cover.
Pillow cover
6) Finally are the cushions and pillow covers – make envelopes! No need for fancy patterns, zippers, or other closures, just envelope your cushions and pillows! Now notice, here, with the pillow cases, I sewed on a little Velcro to hold the case in place – this is not necessary, but a matter of preference. Make certain that your pillow and cushion covers are well fitted because they will take most of the abuse and wear. For the pillow and cushion patterns, use the same old material you used for the couch cover patterns.
For the couch cushions, I constructed the covers as I did for the pillows (three pieces of fabric – ONE large piece for the FRONT of the cover and TWO half pieces for the BACK – measured to the length and width of the cushions, sewed together with the excess fabric on the corners tucked, sewn, and trimmed to give a nice squared and clean look).
Now, zip, tie, or button your new creation on your couch or love-seat and admire your handiwork!
The wonderful aspects of creating this look for yourself is that you truly get a custom piece for your furniture, you choose the colors, fabrics, and patterns that you love, you can transform a whole room with such a simple little change, you protect your furniture (or hide it!), it’s washable, it’s less expensive than those cheapy store-bought covers (and better constructed!) but most importantly, you can pat yourself on the back for a job well-done!
Cover Specs:
Couch (92″) + cushions = 10 yards of 58″ wide denim
Love Seat (68″) + cushion = 8 yards of 58″ wide denim
Pillow Covers (5 pillows 36″ sq.) = 6 yards 44″ wide tapestry fabric
One (1) 22″ zipper (yours may need to be longer or shorter)
1 yard of Velcro (for the pillow covers)
The appropriate size needle for your sewing machine – I used a denim needle (size 14-16) (get a package of these – you may break a needle while sewing)
Total Time: 14 hours
Total Cost: $81.67
Finished couch cover
Finished love seat cover
