How to Design Your Own Futon Cover
Designing your own futon cover allows you to get exactly what you want. It can also be less expensive than purchasing a pre-made cover. You'll need to measure your futon carefully, and keep testing that your cover still fits as you sew it together, but when you're finished, you'll have a custom-made futon cover designed exactly to your taste. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Fabric, flat sheets or duvet cover
- Thread
- Sewing machine
- Zipper (optional)
- Buttons (optional)
- Pins
Instructions
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Design The Futon Cover
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Decide what type of look you want for the futon. What room will it be in? Will you frequently sit or sleep on it? If it's in a heavy traffic area, you may want a more formal looking cover but in a fabric that will stand up to lots of wear--a dark-colored heavyweight chenille, for example. If it's in an out-of-the-way guest bedroom, cover it with a lighter fabric like cotton, and because it's not as likely to become stained, you can opt for lighter, brighter colors.
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Measure your futon. Measure the length from the top seam to the bottom seam. Measure the width from one side seam to the other. Add an inch on each side and on the top and bottom for seam allowances. These measurements, as well as forming a pattern for your cover, will determine how much fabric you need to purchase.
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Pick your fabric. You can either go to a fabric store, or you can take a shortcut and use two flat sheets. If you choose the latter, you have the advantage of being able to buy sheets that come in exactly the same size as your futon--twin, full, queen or king. You won't have to cut them as you will with store-bought yards of fabric. You can also use a pre-made duvet cover as a futon cover, which eliminates having to sew at all. Depending on how thick your futon mattress is, however, the duvet cover may be too tight. Test it to determine if you need to go up a size. If a size larger is too big, sew a seam to custom-fit it to your mattress.
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If you're planning to make a cover that's removable and washable, it's very important to pre-wash your fabric first so that it will shrink before you sew it.
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If you're using flat sheets, pin them together at the edges. If you're using fabric, cut two panels of your desired size and pin them together.
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For both flat sheets and fabric, sew around three sides with your sewing machine. Leave the last side open.
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If you want the option of removing the cover to wash it, sew in a zipper or add buttons to the fourth side. If you don't want to wash the cover, place the futon inside the cover now. Fold the raw edges of the open side inwards and pinch them together, so you have four layers of fabric with the raw edges now inside the seam. Hand stitch the fourth side closed with the futon inside.
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Tips & Warnings
If your futon cover is baggy at its corners, or if the corners stick out rather than looking fitted, add mitered corners by turning the cover inside out and sewing diagonally across each corner. When you turn the cover right-side out again, each corner will now be flat.
