Tutorial | Hand Painted Duvet Cover Made From Two Flat Sheets

I shared this post on The Sewing Rabbit back in July of last year and thought it was about time to bring this tutorial home. Life’s been a bit crazy around here, but I can’t wait to share the sewing projects I’ve been working on… you know, once I get them finished. 🙂

I’ve been wanting to replace our old duvet cover for a while now, but they can be pretty expensive. Instead of buying one, I decided to challenge myself to create a fun, new duvet cover using what I had on hand. The only exception was the fabric paint that I picked up.

If you have pretty patterned or solid color sheets that you want to make into a duvet, just skip the painting steps. The ones I had were white, so I decided to spruce them up with some fabric paint for a watercolored look.

Materials

Two Flat Sheets (the size of the duvet)
Fabric Paint (I used Dye-Na-Flow)
Sponge Brushes
Cups
General Sewing Supplies

Paint the Fabric

One: Find some inspiration for the pattern you want to paint on the sheet. I think polka dots, chevron, stripes, and flowers are all so fun! Since my painting skills are pretty limited, I figured stripes were probably the safest bet for me. I have a whole board of inspiration on Pinterest here.

Two: Wash and dry the sheets. This will remove any chemicals that are on the sheets which could interact with the fabric paint.

Three: Mix the fabric paints and test the colors until the desired shade is reached. I ended up having to add a lot of white to my paint since the Dye-Na-Flow colors were really bright. I also ended up adding quite a bit of water to my mixes to lighten the colors too.

Four: Lay one sheet out in a large area. I put a plastic tarp down to keep from painting my floor, but I found a lot of the water ended up pooling on the tarp. The next time I paint fabric like this, I’ll put an absorbent lining between my fabric and the plastic tarp to help absorb the excess water.

Five: Draw some guide lines with a temporary fabric pen. I found this really helpful so my lines didn’t end up diagonal by accident!

Six: Now just start paining! I painted a couple stripes with one color and then moved to the next. I also added more water to the paint mix as I went along so the stripes would be various shades.

Seven: After you’ve finished painting the sheet, let it dry and then follow the instructions on the fabric paint to set the paint. I set mine with an iron.

Sew the Duvet

One: Lay out the sheets and the duvet to see how the sizes match up. Flat sheets are typically longer than the duvet, so I cut off about 8 extra inches from the bottom. Cut off the excess from the sheets so they are only a couple of inches longer than your duvet. I found the sides of my sheets were perfect for the width of the duvet. If yours are too wide, cut the excess off.

Two: Mark 12 inches in from the top on each side. This will be where your seam ends and the duvet opening begins.

Three: Mark for 8 button holes, evenly distributed across the top on one sheet.

Four: Sew and open the button holes.

Five: Line up the front sheet and the back sheet, right sides together. Using a removable pen, mark through the button holes to indicate where to attach the buttons.

Six: Attach buttons. For information on how to attach them with the sewing machine, check out my tutorial here.

Seven: Button sheets right sides together and pin the sides. (Tip: Sewing the sides while the top is buttoned closed will help ensure that the button hole to button alignment doesn’t get off while sewing.)

Eight: Sew with a 5/8 inch seam allowance around the sheet. Finish any raw edges with a serger, zig-zag stitch, or pinking shears.

Now we will make the inside ties. This will help keep the duvet in place inside the duvet cover. You can follow the steps below or use a pretty ribbon too.

Nine: Take the excess fabric that was cut off from the bottom of each sheet and cut the bottom strip off above the existing folded over seam.