Finding buffalo check patterns making an appearance in fall decor all over Instagram inspired me to add some more buffalo check to my home! While I love sewing and wish I had a room where I could always leave my machine up and beautifully display fabrics and notions, that is just not a reality in our current home. Currently, anytime I want to sew, I have to turn our dining room into a sewing room. With cutting boards, scissors, threads and my machine taking up our eating area, I try to choose sewing projects that can be finished quickly. Last week when I was at Ikea, I found this grey and black buffalo check duvet cover and pillowcase set for $24.99. Instantly, I knew it would solve two issues I had been trying to resolve!
The first issue was wanting a buffalo check throw pillow cover for my front porch swing. Decorating my porch for fall is one of my favorite things to do! I love adding hay bales, pumpkins, plaid throws in warm fall colors and adorable pillows to my front steps and front porch swing. I use the same pillow inserts from season to season, rotating the covers I use and keeping the extra ones neatly folded away for the next year. Another great thing to get from Ikea is their pillow inserts. Their 20×20 100% cotton liner with 100% duck feather filling insert is so full it makes every pillow super fluffy! The best part? They only cost $6!
For my buffalo check pillow cover, I simply took the pillowcase out of the bedding set and cut 10″ off of the back and 1/2″ off the top and bottom. You do not touch the opening side. Ikea has done all the work for you on that edge! Turn the pillowcase inside out and pin the edges together. Sew around the three edges of the pillow, leaving a 1/2″ seam allowance. Make sure you back stitch to lock in the stitches. Turn your pillow cover inside out and place pillow insert into cover. Tuck the fabric back around the pillow and tie the ties. All done! An adorable pillow cover that looks like you put a lot more effort into it than you did!
Another issue I had been looking to resolve is my dining chair seat cushions. I love these Restoration Hardware chairs but the wicker seat tears easily. When we originally bought the chairs, my youngest daughter was probably about 2. Within a couple weeks, she had completely torn a hole in one of the seats because the wicker sticking up drove her crazy so she would sit there and pick at it! So we had to replace that chair and make sure we kept cushions securely attached going forward! However, when you have 5 dining chairs, seat cushions can get expensive! The cheapest decent ones I have found are from World Market for $15.99 a piece, but they are tan and show stains very easily! We have had them for a while, and I have been looking for replacements but hated the thought of spending another $80 knowing the kids would probably spill spaghetti sauce on them the first day I bought them! So when I saw the buffalo check duvet, I instantly know I could use it to cover my existing cushions! Not only would it hide the stains but it would the buffalo check would add so much to my dining room decor!
A duvet cover has 4 corners, and I need 5 cushions so only 4 of these would be super simple, but I can handle one being a little bit harder! For the 4 corners, I merely placed my existing cushions on the duvet cover and marked around them, giving myself a 1/2″ allowance. Two of my sides were already sewn and ready to go so I simply had to flip the fabric inside out and sew around the remaining two edges, leaving an opening just big enough to fit my cushion back in. I left it bigger than I thought I would need it at first and then added stitches until I really had to work to get it in that way my hand stitching would be minimal. For my cushions, the opening needed to be 6″ to squeeze it back in. I then pulled the fabric together and hand stitched the opening closed using a slip stitch. Oh, and the best part is, the cushion is reversible! I forgot to snap a picture, but the opposite side is adorable with grey and cream 3 1/2″ vertical stripes. Also, I coated the finished cushion in three light coats of Scotchgard to try to keep them as clean as possible!
So for $24.99, I have a throw pillow cover and 5 new dining chair seat cushions! That is just over $4 a piece plus I have pieces of fabric leftover I can turn into cloth pumpkins or other fun items! It maybe took me an hour to sew the throw pillow and even less per cushion, and that’s with a two-year-old hanging from my neck! Definitely a very inexpensive, easy solution that adds so much cuteness to my fall decor!
Ikea Duvet: https://tinyurl.com/y73gq62f