Fabric Rehab – DIY Duvet Cover

So this post is a blast from the past. Since it’s winter and COLD, I figured what better way to enjoy the indoors than to personalize them with your own sense of style and comfort. Originally posted over a year ago, this post gives you a very simple and straight forward way to make a duvet cover for any bed in your home. Enjoy!

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This weekend I finally finished a project that I have been working on for about a month. It was one of those projects that wouldn’t take long if you just had a Saturday free but I just never did. So, as I was in between projects I began and finished this one. Sometimes that’s how I get rehabs done. I just work on something for an hour and then come back to it a few days later. Anyway, I made a king sized duvet cover. This was for my friend. We went to my favorite fabric store and bought fabric for a king sized duvet and some Euro shams. We had purchased 7 yards of 54 inch fabric and I knew that would only cover one side of the duvet and make one pillow….so back to the fabric store for more fabric. We wanted to go with a grey and yellow theme so she picked some yellow stripes. The finished product looked fantastic. Here is her new duvet:

Sewing a duvet cover is like sewing a big pillow. It is really easy if your fabric is big enough. (I have sewn a duvet cover using two sheets before) A king sized duvet’s dimensions are 102” X 108”. The fabric used was 54” wide fabric, so unless you are sewing a twin or full…you have to add some more fabric. To do it requires some detail but in the end you have a duvet cover that is custom-made and no one else will have it. Depending on where you get your fabric, you can save money because a nice king viagra price sized duvet is expensive all by itself. The fabric was $6.99 a yard. Here is the cost/materials breakdown:
• 14 yards of fabric, FM Fabrics, $97.86
• White thread (Had it…I buy it in bulk)
• Stuffing for the Sham’s, Wal-Mart, $8.00
• Snaps, Wal-Mart, $1.97
• Fabric to make pillow inserts (I used some leftover fabric from my curtain project)
Total Cost: $107.83. Not bad for a duvet cover and two shams.

Here is how you make a duvet with upholstery sized fabric:
1.) You need 14 yards of 54” fabric for a king sized duvet. I used 7 yards of one fabric and 7 yards for the other side. Find some place to lay out your fabric and cut your fabric into two 111” long pieces. You will have some extra at the end. Put aside this is for your shams.
2.) Repeat on your opposite side fabric. Now you should have four big pieces of 111” long fabric.
3.) Lay out one of the 111” pieces and measure to find the middle. Cut the piece down the middle lengthwise. Now you have two pieces that are 27” wide and 111” long. (To measure use a yard stick. Measure 27” from the selvage all the way  down making marks with chalk. Line the marks up and draw a line. OR…I had patterned fabric and it was easy to just measure where halfway was on the width of the fabric. I just cut along the fabric print at the same place and got a straight line)

4.) Repeat step three for the other side of the fabric. I now had one 54”X111” panel of the grey (Fabric A), two 27X111” panels of the grey, one 54″ X 111″ panel of the yellow (Fabric B), and two 27”X111” panels of the yellow.
5.) Put the right sides of the fabric together of the 54” panel of Fabric A and one of the 27” Panels of Fabric A. Line up the seams and the pattern on the fabric. (Tip you might have to cut some off the side of the 27” panel to line up the pattern on the fabric. Don’t forget there will be a ¼ inch seam so find the spot where the pattern would line up, add ¼ inch and this is where you cut to make the pattern line up.)
6.) Sew a ¼ inch seam all the way down the panel.
7.) Repeat on the other side of Fabric A. You now have one side of the duvet ready. It should be a piece that is 108”X111”. This duvet will have two seams down its length. You will center these two seams on your bed so you want the added panels to be the same width. If you have trimmed some off the side of the 27” panel to line up the pattern then make sure the duvet is symmetrical by cutting off the same amount to the other 27”panel. (don’t cut off too much you want the finished product to be 104″) If you have not trimmed any off you will want to trim 2 inches off the sides of both of the added 27” panels. The goal is to have a big piece that is 104”X111”
8.) Repeat Steps 5-7 for the other side of the duvet. (Fabric B)
9.) Now fold the bottom of one side  a half-inch and iron it down. Now fold it again a ½ inch and pin. Sew the hem on the bottom side of the duvet.
10.) Repeat on Fabric B.
11.) Place the Fabric A and Fabric B together right sides facing each other and pin. (Make sure the bottom edges you just seamed are lined up)
12.) Optional: if you want to add duvet ties to keep the comforter in place, pin some ribbon or binding tape to the corners of the duvet. Sew over the folded piece of ribbon at each corner. ( I sewed some zig zag stitches on the edges of some fabric scraps for this)
13.) Mark a 30” opening with chalk in the middle of the bottom side of the pinned duvet. You will not sew in between the chalk marks because it is the opening for the down comforter to be inserted.
14.) Start sewing at the edge of one chalk line. (don’t forget to back-stitch when you start) Sew a 1 inch seam all the way around the duvet ending at the other chalk line on the bottom of the duvet.

15.) If you have fabric that frays easily, you might have to sew a zig zag stitch along the edges of the fabric to keep the edges from fraying when you wash it.
16.) Turn the duvet inside out nad you should now have a 102″X108″ King Sized Duvet.
17.) Hand sew some simple snaps (I got mine from Wal-Mart) to the opening so you can close the duvet. YOU ARE DONE!!!!

Finally, I made two Euro Shams out of the extra fabric. I barely had 26X26 squares of fabric but I made it happen by using Fabric A and Fabric B on the each pillow. I will post “how to” make a Euro Pillow Sham soon.  I hope this gives you some ideas.
Thanks for reading!

Jennifer