Making Easy Cushion Covers

Our couch cushions were in good shape, but the color definitely didn't match our new 'beachy' interior. We didn't have the money to get the cushions recovered professionally so I decided to make them. I am by no means a professional seamstress, but I can sew a bit. I read somewhere about the idea of making covers that fit over the cushion like a fitted sheet. I liked that idea because it's half as much fabric which means less to wash and dry. Also, it makes the sewing really easy! I saw a lot of people that suggested using a fabric shower curtain because it's water resistant and more durable. Our cushions are really long so that didn't work for us, but might for you. I decided to just use bed sheets and ordered a twin/single microfiber (soft and easy to clean) sheet set from Target for $15. I figured it wasn't as durable as a regular cushion cover, but at that price you could just replace the thing when it got ragged.

To save money (and I had no idea were to buy elastic in St. Maarten) I just cut the elastic out of the fitted sheet and reused it for both cushions. I had the flat sheet for one cushion and once I cut the elastic out of the fitted sheet, I had a flat bit of fabric for the other. I didn't have any idea how to make fitted sheets, but I Googled it and it seemed pretty straight forward. I just draped the fabric over the cushions, cut it to size, cut out the corners, hemmed the straight edges, pinned & sewed the corners, and then sewed the elastic to the corners.

Here's the old with the new:

And the final product:

One last tip: I found the covers to bit a little bit too loose on the long straight edges. I would probably sew the elastic all the way around next time. To make these ones work, I just added a few reinforced holes to the sheet edges and tied them up like a corset. That makes the cover night and tight, but keeps it easy to remove!