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Duvet covers are the easiest things in the world to make. You can use whatever fabric you like, to match to your personal preference or to your existing room decor. They can be plain and prim or fancy and funky. You choose!

Getting the right duvet cover really make a difference to a room. You need just the right colors and pattern to pull the theme together. But so often, you can't find just what you need in the shops. Well, here's your answer! Go to a fabric store and pick out the fabric you want, and run up one on your sewing machine. In fact, if you are fairly quick at sewing, you dont' even need a sewing machine, because it's all plain sewing.

Firstly, find out what size your cover needs to be. The best way is to look on the packaging of existing covers in your shops or in catalogs. Different countries have different standard sizes. Don't use the DUVET size, use the COVER size, as the cover needs to be a couple of inches bigger than the duvet itself.

If you have an overlocker, you can bind the seams that you are going to sew. Put the right sides of the fabric together and sew along three sides. Choose which side you want the opening to be on (bottom or side) and leave that open.

If you don't have an overlocker then you can use a french seam. Sew a seam with the WRONG sides together, then turn the cover inside out and sew another seam with right sides together, enclosing the first seam within it to hide the raw edges.

You can keep the cover closed in a number of ways.

BUTTONS

Choose buttons that match the cover, of get those ones that you can cover with a slip of fabric to match then clip the back onto afterwards.

POPS

You can buy gun things that make poppers, or you can sew on individual poppers by hand.

TIES

You can sew on thin strips of fabric to tie together in neat bows, or bits of ribbon. This is a nice touch for baby or toddler quilt covers as there is no chance of buttons or pops coming off and becoming a choking hazard.

This is the basic duvet cover. You can make it in whatever size you like, to fit any odd shaped duvet you might have. You can also make them for baby, toddler or child sized quilts. You could use left-over fabric or old sheets for this.

If you want to make the cover more fancy, then you need to add the decoration before you sew it up. Doing it this way round makes it much easier.

You can sew strips of fabric together to make a stripey cover, or even make a patchwork cover.

You can applique or embroider patterns onto the fabric, either all over or as a patch in the middle.

You can add ribbons and lace as inserts into the fabric or by sewing them in rows onto the top. These can be added in vertical, horizontal or even diagonal stripes. If you use broiderie anglais tape you can thread ribbbon through it.

Once you have made your duvet cover, you can think about making matching pillow cases (slips), curtains, tissue box covers, cushion covers, lampshades etc. If you don't feel confident to do this, then buy the fabric and get someone else to do it for you (espeically the curtains!). You will be rewarded with a lovely co-ordinated bedroom that will be the envy of all your friends.

Learn more about this author, Susan Hibberd.
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