Futon makeover

When we got married, my husband contributed this futon, which was great since I didn't have a couch... only I never liked the way it looked. I've thought about buying a cover and pillows for it many times, but always abandoned the idea thinking I'd rather replace it than spend any money on it. But as we were fixing up the living room this month, I decided to go ahead and do something about it! New couch isn't exactly at the top of our want list so we will probably still have this futon for a while.


I started off by covering it with a black sheet we already had. Then I went to Hobby Lobby to pick out some fabrics for new pillows. The large dots were on clearance and the gray fabric was 30% off, score! After texting several options to my husband, these came out as the winners. He doesn't necessarily love them, but was okay with them. And I think they look pretty cute. I love that they are neutral so they will probably still work with whatever couch we end up with someday if we want to still use them.


The next step was deciding what size to make them and cutting out the squares. I decided on 15" square pillows, so I cut out 15.5" squares so that after I sewed them they would end up the size I wanted. I was especially careful when cutting out the large polka dot one to make sure the dots were straight and mostly centered. I actually traced out the squares using a ruler, triangle, and light colored thin sharpie. Then it was time to break out the sewing machine! I absolutely love this thing! It was from my grandpa's sewing machine store he had years ago. Old things really are better made than they are these days. So, I put the squares right sides together and sewed most of the way around, leaving an opening for stuffing.


Then I flipped them right-side out and stuffed them with Poly-Fil.


After stuffing them, I pinned them and sewed up the openings by hand. I bought new thread colors that closely matched the fabrics since these tiny stitches are on the outside.


Here are a couple of the finished pillows!


And here they all are on the made-over futon! I's not perfect looking, but I think it looks so much better and will hold us over until we get a pretty manly stylish couch! I also love that the removable sheet will make it easier to clean off cat hair. We have a small cat blanket that we usually leave on there that helps too. We can just pick that up when company comes over (or I when I want to take pretty blog pictures.)


Here's the project breakdown.
Supplies needed: sewing machine, fabric (about 2 yards for four pillows), thread, poly-fil stuffing, pins, scissors, ruler, sharpie or pen
Total cost: $26 for four pillows since I already a flat sheet, sewing machine and basic sewing supplies
Time spent: approx. 4 hours (1 hour at Hobby Lobby picking out fabric, 3 hours making the pillows)

Have you done any sewing projects or furniture makeovers lately to spruce up your home?