Upcycling a Skirt into Cushion Covers

Rather than this skirt ending up in Vinnies I though upcycling it into cushion covers might just work. Every year in the Christmas holidays I like to have a good declutter. This typically involves lots of clothes, then homewares and books. I try and sell the good stuff and donate the rest, but occasionally there is something worth transforming.

I love the colours in this skirts and the slightly boho Indian embellished border at the bottom, but I didn’t love wearing it anymore. So I decided to turn it into two cushion covers and have the bottom border as a vertical border at the sides.

Here it is after I removed the waistband, just to prove it started life as a skirt!

The process

The first decision was whether to make one or two cushions; one the same front and back or two with something plain on the back.  As it’s always useful (if you like symmetry that is) to have two cushions, so that was my choice. I sourced a lovely matching velvet from Warwick Fabrics.

The skirt was lined so I decided to reuse that in the cushions to provide some extra weight.  I got a pattern from the internet and used an existing cushion cover as the template for cutting it out.

I used an ‘invisible’ method for fitting the zipper, where I stitched it to the fabric on the inside. Then you work it so the front part comes in underneath and then over-stitch the zipper on the outside on the back piece.  The front fabric was a bit fine for stitching all the way around – I did try it but it puckered and didn’t look right. Sewing the sides together took several goes – the light weight of the skirt fabric compared with the heavier velvet made that a tricky task.