In this tutorial we will create two-piece fitted seat covers for the front seats. The seat covers will also have various storage pockets: flat pockets that surround the bottom cushions, flat pockets and bigger storage pockets.
This tutorial has three parts:
Construction of Cover for Back Cushions
Construction of Optional Pockets for Back Cushions
Construction of Cover for Bottom Seat Cushion
You’ll need:
-Fabric
-Lots of pins
-Washable marker in a noticeable, but matching color (In case it doesn’t wash out!)
-Elastic
-Bias tape (I made my own out of extra fabric)
-Iron (optional, but I think it’s pretty important)
For more information about materials, check out Notes on Sewing Materials.
The front seats in our ’85 Joker Jubilee have a contoured, one piece back. The best part is that they are easily removable, so fitting the seat covers doesn’t require me travelling down into the depths of our apartment building’s parking garage.
Construction of Cover for Back Cushion:
The techniques used in this part of the tutorial will be used while constructing the bottom seat cushion. I’ll describe them in depth here and just mention them during the bottom seat cushion part.The first thing to do is to cut your fabric. The back cushion is made up of three pieces: the front, back and edge. Cut fabric large enough to give you a couple of inches all around to fit your cover right. The front part of my back cushion is curved inward a bit, so when sizing my fabric I just gave myself some extra space. You’ll see in the photos that I had to put two pieces together to make a strip long enough for the edge. I got lucky and had two pieces that were mirror images of each other and so patching them together looks great.
On that note, the great thing about my fabric is that the print of it bleeds through to the “wrong” side. This made placing my fabric a lot easier, which made the final product look better. I made sure that the up-down pattern was consistent throughout making these covers.
NOTE: For illustration purposes, I colored the “wrong” side of the fabric red to help distinguish between the two. I didn’t do it on photos that were pretty obvious, though.
Drape your cut fabric over the front of your back cushion, with the “right” side of the fabric facing the cushion. Make sure that there is at least an inch of extra fabric all around and that the design of your fabric is centered in a way you like. Place pins in the cushion by just poking them straight in. (I used black dots to show mine since the red filter made my pins hard to see.)
Using a washable marker, draw a line on the seam of the front back cushion. You might have to flip the fabric back and forth a bit to make sure your making your line in the right place. I darkened my line so it would show better. For the bottom edge, I just drew a line in the middle at the bottom of the cushion to show where the bottom hem should be. You will make the back side of the cushion the same way.
Once you have drawn your outline, check to make sure that it looks right, and then trim your fabric so you have a ½ to 1 inch of space. In these photos I have the drawn pattern for the front side on the left, and the back side on the right. You can see how the front side is wider and curvier.
Take your long strip of edge fabric and center it on your seat. Pin in place by sticking the needles straight in. Draw your outline like on the previous step. My seats have movable armrests attached to both sides of the back cushion, so it’s impossible to really draw the bottom edges of the seat. With the armrests in their horizontal position, I just made some horizontal marks to show where the armrest was on the edge. These marks will be used to know how long to make the notches to fit around the armrest. I just left the bottom part as wide as the edge part above the notches all the way down. You can continue your drawn line to the bottom, if it helps your pinning and sewing placement.
To make the notch you’ll need to measure the length of bias tape you’ll need to cover your notch’s edge all the way around. (There are other ways to finish cut notches like this, but I just used bias tape.)
Center and enclose the fabric’s edge in your bias tape, pin and finish with a straight stitch.
**If you are going to make pockets for the back, now is the time to get them fitted and attached. The instructions are given after this step.
It’s time to stitch your front, back and edge pieces together. I started with the curvier front piece, since it was the part that would most likely need tweaking. Find the center of the edge piece and mark with a pin, do the same for the front piece. Starting in the middle, pin the “wrong” sides together along the line drawn while making the pattern. This line will serve as a guide for where to stitch. You can see that I used a lot of pins, especially on the curvy parts. That’s just how I roll. I also made sure to pin any loose fabric down before sewing so it wouldn’t accidently get stitched. Stitch the pieces together with a straight stitch.
Before you trim your edges, try the piece onto your seat to make sure the fit is right. Once you’re satisfied, trim the edge about ½ inch away from the seam all around.
You’ll notice that the edges are puckering up around the curves. What you need to do is cut little lines in order to give some ease to the fabric. Do not cut too close to the seam!
After you’ve cut your little ease notches, it’s time to finish the entire edge with a zigzag stitch, allowing the notched area to still have the ease you created. I went over my notched areas twice since the splits were spread pretty wide in places.
Repeat this process with the back piece (make sure to add optional pockets first). Try it on, correct anything you need to, adjust the hem to the right length, finish with a folded hem and you’re done!
Construction of Optional Pockets for Back Cushions:
For us, maximizing storage is important. I added pockets on the seat back—two different configurations to suit our Westy since the driver’s seat backs up against the kitchen cabinets and our utility battery do-hickey. The driver’s seat (as pictured in the above step) only has a flat pocket on the top; the passenger’s seat has the same top pocket as well as a shoe-organizer turned big pocket with little pockets on front. It has a similar design to my Saddlebag Organizers for the Bench Seat.To make the top pocket, cut a piece of fabric (being mindful of how it’s pattern will look) that is wide enough to fit across the back of the back seat cover piece. Fold and press both the top and bottom edges. Sew the top edge only.
Place the sewn pocket piece onto the back piece, pin and sew around the bottom three edges, as shown by the red line. Repeat this process on the passenger seat, making sure to place the pockets in the same place.
I had an extra row of shoe organizers after making my Saddlebag Organizers for the Bench Seat. It originally had four pockets, but that was too wide to I trimmed it down to three pockets. You’ll cover this shoe organizer to use for the front of a big pocket.
First you’ll need a piece of fabric that is big enough to cover the shoe organizer and still be wide enough, when finished, to fit across the back of your seat. Fold and press the edges (careful not to melt your shoe organizer) and make sure the proper width is maintained.
Place and pin the pockets onto your back piece and sew with a straight stitch as indicated by the red line. Trim any excess.
Construction of Cover for Bottom Seat Cushions:
Since I already described techniques used in the steps above, I won’t go into super detail in this part.You’ll need to cut a piece of fabric big enough for the top of the bottom seat. Don’t forget to make it long enough to tuck under the bottom of the top cushion. Draw your pattern as described in the steps above and trim.
Cut two identical long pieces that wrap around to make the sides with pockets. I accidentally made my pocket piece too narrow and when I added the elastic later on to make it fit snugly, the pocket got way too short. The finished edge of the pocket piece should be longer than in the photo. It should be about 1½ inches below the unfinished edge of the back strip to allow for a seam.
To hold them together during the later sewing stages, I put a straight stitch along the bottom edge.
Attach side strip to the bottom piece with pins and sew with a straight stitch. Check fit, adjust, trim, make ease notches, and finish with a zigzag stitch.
You might notice that the back part of the sides are a little too long. I cut an angled piece off of each side.
I also added seams to make some pockets on the sides, edges and front.
You’ll need to finish the edges of the tucked in part. I used a rolled edge with a zigzag stitch, but you could use bias tape.
Cut some elastic long enough to add to the bottom edges, as indicated by the red line. Pin in place and stitch. Finish the edge with a zigzag.
Add bias tape to the areas indicated by the black lines. Make sure the bias tape is long enough to have enough to use for ties.
Here’s the finished fit, nice and snug! I found it’s easier to install the bottom cover if you adjust the seat back forward and then tuck the end in under it. Tie the sides together under the hinges.
Looks like a person to me.
I have a tutorial on making Bench Seat and Mattress Covers...check it out!
Right after I finished these seat covers my husband travelled up to Santiago to visit a Vanagon specialist to work on our transmission. He said that the mechanic, who is a pretty quiet guy, was totally into these seat covers. He told Ben he was lucky to have a wife like me. I’m smiling as I write this. I’ll admit it, I’m a proud lady, these are pretty awesome.
Best!
