Do you know what I love? Cushions. They add colour and character to a lounge room or bedroom, they’re comfy and they’re easy to change around if you need a bit of change. A good cushion can be the finishing touch on a room.

Do you know what I don’t love? Just how much cushions cost! Especially when cushion covers only need the teeniest amount of sewing skills to look super fancy for a fraction of the cost.

Cushions from Target or Lincraft strike the $20 -$30 dollar mark for a single cushion, and if you’re looking for something upmarket, you’re easily looking at over $50 for one cushion.

Inspired by this cushion from Anthropologie, I decided to make my own, budget friendly set of cushions to update my couch.

I picked up five metres of upholstery fabric for five dollars from my local haberdashery, because it was water-damaged. I took it home, washed it up, and it was good as new. Score! You can use any fabric you please for your sewing adventure, but I’d recommend a mid-weight cotton. If you’re following this pattern, I’d probably stick to a block colour, but you’re welcome to experiment with patterned fabrics, too – let me know how they turn out!

To start out, I measured the cushion covers I’d be replacing – they were 40cm x 40cm. I made two variations on the same cushion, to mix it up a little. Each style is made of three front panels.

The first I made with two gathered panels, and one flat piece. I recommend this tutorial if you’ve never tried gathering before. But the gathering (which is totally easy, once you know how) is absolutely the trickiest part of these cushions, so please don’t be put off.  Hooray for straight lines!

I used 2cm seam allowances throughout, so for my first 40cm x 40cm cushion, the pieces I cut were two 14cm x 70cm pieces (which when sewn in will be 10cm wide, and 40cm long after gathering) (Piece A), and one 24cm x 44cm piece, which makes the middle section (Piece B).

So gather both 70cm sides of each piece (four lengths of gathering, total), and then fit them to the flat Piece B (44cm). Sew the right sides of the fabric together, and then iron the seams flat.

The back for each style of cushion is the same, made from two pieces. One needs to be 24cm x 44cm (Piece C), and the other 34cm x 44cm (Piece D). We’re making an overlapping back opening, so we don’t have to fret about zippers or other closures.

On each back piece, fold one of the 44cm edges over one centimetre, and then over again. Pin it down and sew along the length, at about 0.5cm.

Right sides together again, with the folded over edges in the middle of the cushion and overlapping, pin and sew the back pieces to the front piece, all the way around. Give the whole thing an iron, turn it the right way out, and pop the cushion in!

With the second style of cushion, you’re using the exact same technique, but with the gathered piece in the middle.

So we’re cutting two 14cm x 44cm pieces (Piece A) and one 24cm x 70cm piece (Piece B), plus the back pieces, which are the exact same as the other cushion. Gather up the centre piece, and assemble it the same way as the other.

Sit back and enjoy your new cushions!