a how-to guide
![](http://www.doviejakobsen.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/IMG_0648-copy-2-1024x683.jpg)
Follow along to make your own futon cover similar to mine!
Everything starts with an idea.
For the longest time, I wanted nothing more than a Japanese futon. I could find any reason to link back to my want of one and really anchored it in my brain that I was going to get one.
Already living in my bedroom were three lovely tatami mats my dad got me as a gift a few years ago that I feel extremely fortunate to have. So, the base was there. (It isn’t necessary to have tatami mats if you are looking to purchase a Japanese futon yourself, but they do add to the experience, so if you ever are able to purchase some, I highly recommend doing so. But this isn’t about tatami mats! This is about getting our dream (of the moment) bed!)
The next step was reasoning with others why I needed a new bed. It’s my money and I can do what I want with it, but when I am explaining things to others and giving them reasons behind my actions, it’s not really for them, it’s for me. Being able to list out the reason I need and want a new bed to others really solidified my decision in purchasing one.
I was sharing a room and bed with my boyfriend at the time (at his parents’ house) so there was little to no space to do all the things I needed to get done. I needed space for my school desk, sewing supplies, some room to exercise when I was feeling ready to take on life, and just a living area that allowed me to breathe and decompress from the stressors of the outside world (and the rest of the house).
Contents
- A Small Space Doesn’t Necessitate Less of What You Love
- Buying the Futon!
- Consider Your Vision
- Get a Proper Measurement
- Wash Your Fabric!!!
- Get Cutting
- Sew it Together!
- Optional: Prepare Your Ruffles
- Create Your Ruffles
- Attach Your Ruffles
- Sew On Some Buttons
- Clean It All Up!
- Have Some Rest
A Small Space Doesn’t Necessitate Less of What You Love
Now, the key to making the most out of a small space is not to have little to no things; It’s to have space-efficient, multi-purpose things that you just absolutely love! And do you want to know what took up nearly 50% of this tiny room and only served 1 purpose? A very old and very uncomfortable spring mattress.
This was just not going to cut it if I wanted to live a sane and comfortable life in this room with myself, a whole other human, a dog, and 2 cats until I finished my bachelor’s degree. (Don’t worry, my babies have access to far more than just my bedroom, but they love to stick to me, so, wherever I am, they are as well.)
My therapist always tells me, “It doesn’t matter how long you are going to spend somewhere; It is good to make it feel like home.”
We all need a refuge, and to create one simply, means dealing with the essentials first.
So, first things first, I dropped off the well-worn mattress at the dump in the designated mattress bin. (I had never been to a dump like that. Is this was it feels like to be an adult?)
I was willing to take this leap of a step first since it was just killing my back. I would much rather sleep on the couch for the time being than deal with the eye-sore that was that darn bed.
As a recommendation, it would be best to purchase your new bed before throwing out your old one but do whatever needs to be done to feel comfortable in your space!
Buying the Futon!
![](http://www.doviejakobsen.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Screen-Shot-2021-09-19-at-7.37.02-PM-3-1024x576.png)
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Before considering anything else, we need to get a bed that suits us and our space. For me this was a futon as it could be cleaned, if necessary, would help me lay on my back more, and really, that it could be folded up and put away during the day when I wasn’t using it. A fabulous invention.
I purchased my “Queen” sized futon from Futon Beds from Japan. I believe a Queen-size was the largest they had at the time when I purchased it in July of 2020, but they currently offer Single, Double, Queen, and King sizes.
If you are purchasing a traditional Japanese futon from a company like Futon Beds from Japan, then there are two different futons to consider.
#1 would be the Shikibuton, which is more like the mattress in this case.
&
#2 is the Kakebuton, which is similar to a “comforter or quilt.”
I got both since I wanted the whole experience. (Sadly, I live in Florida, so, the kakebuton is a tad hot when the air conditioner isn’t gushing, but I have a feeling once I leave the state it will be a Godsend.)
Consider Your Vision
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Your futon has been ordered! So, it is time to purchase, or in this case, sew OUR OWN bedsheets! But before we can do this, we must consider what we want our bedroom to look like, where we are going to get our fabric, and how we’re going to tackle this mission.
Identify what look you’re going for:
- Color(s)
- Aesthetic
- Texture
Do they align with the vision of your room (if you are building from scratch) or do they match the room you have currently?
I was starting my room from scratch, so I wanted to keep it simple with solid colors (pink) and a little bit of a frill for a little extra oomph. This way it wouldn’t clash terribly with whatever I decided to add in the future.
Ways to get our futon cover/ futon cover fabric:
- You can buy a duvet cover from any brand as long as you find a corresponding size. (This would be more difficult for the kakebuton since it is a perfect square but maybe they sell that out there!)
- Buy a cover from a Japanese futon retailer.
- Buy the cover from Futon Beds from Japan, where they sell 100% cotton sheets (I would love to have a set they just weren’t in my budget after buying a new bed.)
- Purchase fabric and make them yourself! (Which is what I did, and what this blog post is about.)
- You can buy fabric at any fabric store like Jo-Ann Fabrics, but what I did was go through the linen closet, my local thrift stores, and online retailers like Amazon to search for “flat sheets.”
A flat sheet is basically just a big ol’ piece of fabric that usually comes in sheet sets to give your bedding another layer. This is a benefit to us since people often get rid of them, or you might even have a spare in your closet you never needed before!
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You are going to need 4 flat sheets to serve as 2 tops (1 for the shikibuton and 1 for the kakebuton) and 2 bottoms (1 for the shikibuton and 1 for the kakebuton) that we are going to sew together (if you can find fabric large enough then you can fold it over instead of using 2 separate pieces but that might be difficult to find or costly).
Of course, I couldn’t find any at my local goodwill (the only second-hand store available to me at the time) so I purchased my flat sheets from Amazon (sadly not cotton, but we get the best we can find/afford at the time).
As well, I used a white sheet I had found in the linen closet to create ruffles around the perimeter of the kakebuton. This is, of course, completely optional.
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Get a Proper Measurement
![](http://www.doviejakobsen.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Screen-Shot-2021-09-19-at-11.34.58-PM-1-1024x573.png)
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You really should get the measurement before purchasing your flat sheet but it’s also important to have it afterward.
![](http://www.doviejakobsen.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Screen-Shot-2021-09-20-at-3.47.21-PM-1-1024x566.png)
Take the measurement of your shikibuton and kakebuton and add around 2 inches to the WIDTH and 4 inches to the LENGTH to account for the added thickness of the futon, seam allowance, and button/zipper opening.
I put the button opening at the very end/foot of the futon, so that is why I made sure to add extra fabric to the end. But if you wish to have your opening be along the side of the futon for easier access, then add around 4 inches to the WIDTH and 2 inches to the LENGTH.
Again
Button opening at the end/foot
- + 2 inches to the WIDTH
- + 4 inches to the LENGTH
Button opening on the side
- + 4 inches to the WIDTH
- + 2 inches to the LENGTH
These are the measurements provided by Futon Beds from Japan that I used to make my covers. (I remeasured the futons when they arrived, and the chart is accurate.)
![](http://www.doviejakobsen.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Screen-Shot-2021-09-18-at-9.30.16-PM-2-1024x390.png)
Wash Your Fabric!!!
There is nothing worse than having measured everything out, cutting it, and then washing the finished piece only to realize it’s all wonky cause it shrunk in the wash.
To ensure that everything stays the size we need it to be, please wash your fabric before cutting it.
Get Cutting
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I put the 2 sets of tops & bottoms in piles so I could try and cut them 2 at a time (this was not a smart idea and made things a little wonky, so I recommend cutting each sheet one at a time, AFTER having indicated on the fabric where to cut, to keep the line straight.
We need our sheets to fit perfectly together, so the more precise the cut, the easier the sewing will be.
Sew It Together!
- Place the outer side of your futon fabric together (we are doing this inside out).
- Fold the extra inches of fabric towards the outside (neither fold should be touching each other).
- Sew a basic stitch all the way around, AVOIDING the bottom of the cover. (We have to leave it open for the buttons).
Optional: Prepare Your Ruffles
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- Cut strips of fabric to a width that is double your preferred ruffle width.
- Make sure the length (in total) is at least double the length of all sides of your bed where you want to put your ruffles.
- Sew the strips together to form one very long strip of fabric.
- Fold the long strip in half and sew all sides to make sure there are no openings.
Create Your Ruffles
My strip of fabric for my ruffles ended up being 413.5 inches (totally organic; I didn’t stress how long it was as long as it was double the length of 3 sides of my kakebuton).
- Take your total length of ruffle fabric
- Divide the total by the number of sides you want the ruffle to be on
- Get the measurement of how much fabric you are going to use on each side
Example (using my measurements):
- 413.5 ÷ 3 = 137.83
- I will be using 138 inches of fabric per side of my kakefuton.
![](http://www.doviejakobsen.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Screen-Shot-2021-09-20-at-6.13.57-PM-1024x569.png)
You are going to pin, whatever number of inches you calculated using the above formula, to each side of the futon
![](http://www.doviejakobsen.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Screen-Shot-2021-09-20-at-6.14.43-PM-1024x568.png)
Then, ruffle (by hand) until the ruffle fabric becomes taught to the same length as the flat sheet being used for the futon.
![](http://www.doviejakobsen.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Screen-Shot-2021-09-20-at-6.17.01-PM-1024x568.png)
Do this to all 3 sides.
You only need to pin to one sheet of fabric (either the top or bottom), we will connect all 3 pieces later on.
![](http://www.doviejakobsen.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Screen-Shot-2021-09-20-at-6.19.57-PM-1024x568.png)
Unpin your ruffles from the main sheet of your futon cover and sew along the edge of your newly made ruffles to ensure that they keep this ruffled shape.
Attach Your Ruffles
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Place the ruffles in between your two pieces of fabric for your futon cover. (My kakebuton has a dark pink bottom and a light pink top.)
To ensure that everything comes out nice, we are going to sew everything inside out, that way when we flip it, everything is facing the way it needs to. (If you have solid-color fabric this is a lot easier.)
Place the outer side of your futon fabric together, with your ruffle fabric sandwiched between them, against the edge. As I demonstrate in the photo, the seam where you originally sewed, in order to keep the ruffles together, is the same side of the ruffle fabric that should be facing the edge.
The extra few inches we kept on for the button opening should be folded outward (NOT sandwiched between like the ruffles) and be laying on the outside when we sew.
![](http://www.doviejakobsen.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Screen-Shot-2021-09-20-at-6.51.44-PM-1-1024x559.png)
I cut out an extra strip of light pink fabric (the same WIDTH as the futon cover) and put it at the very end of the bed to act as my other buttonhole flap since I couldn’t fold over the extra inches (like I did with the dark pink side in the last step) as it would hide the ruffles.
Then, just sew all the way around with a basic stitch. Make sure to avoid the bottom of the bed where the buttons will go later on.
Make sure the newly added light pink strip is fully secured to the bottom of the cover.
Sew On Some Buttons
Now that you have two flaps on the inner part of the bottom of your futon cover, you are going to need some buttons to close them.
These added flaps work to conceal the buttons from being seen for a cleaner look. Because of this, our buttons, nor our buttonholes have to look great. No one is going to see them!
According to the number of buttons I had, and how much space I wanted between each button is how I determined this whole next section.
With a pencil, mark out where you want to place your buttons (I placed mine every 2.5-3 inches). This must be done on both flaps since buttons need buttonholes.
So, on one side sew on your buttons, and on the facing side, sew your buttonholes.
Clean It All Up!
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Snip off all your loose threads. Wipe off any marks. Sweep off that cat hair! But, more importantly, DO A TOP STITCH. I swear to you this is going to level up your new creation.
This just means that you are going to keep your cover right-side out and then sew a basic stitch all the way around the edge of the bed as we did before, this time it’s just not inside out.
Doing this will make your bedding look far more expensive, and sturdy, which is what we want.
Have Some Rest
![](http://www.doviejakobsen.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/IMG_0654-2-copy-1024x683.jpg)
Doing all that work will really do a number on you. So, treat yourself! Take a nap in your new bed.
I had originally wanted to make pillow covers as well, but I got a little overwhelmed. But, had I, it would have been the same process (just smaller and less stressful).
I did a whole video on this process on my YouTube channel. So, if you’re interested in getting even more insight into how to make your own Japanese futon cover then~
Take a lookie!
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