Turn One Duvet Cover Into Two, step by step

Yes, it is I, Sherry The Mediocre Seamstress, back with another post about sewing something while half wanting to fling the machine out the window, and then acting like a triumphant American Gladiator when I am wrapped up, parading around all sweaty and half clothed in full peacock mode. Behold, I have transformed one boy’s duvet cover into two.

The issue was plain: my BFF had inherited her husband’s boyhood set of twin beds for their son’s bedroom. They had been using simply one in their old house, but now had room to set up both in their new house (which is simply a block away from mine! INSERT ALL THE EXCITED EMOJIS!).

But alas, she had only one duvet cover (from Garnet Hill a few years back) and it was no longer for sale. So to get a matching set, she assumed she’d have to buy two new ones. Then I swooped in with waaaay too much enthusiasm and in short begged her to let me take the original duvet cover apart and see if I could turn it into two duvet covers. If I failed, well, she was planning to buy a new matching set anyway. And if I succeeded, well… I could feel like I was at last earning my keep after all the delicious meals and root beer floats she has been stuffing into my pie hole since we met 16 years ago in a compact NYC dorm room.

Step One: Get cocky, swiftly followed by an enveloping sense of dread. Because it is going to freak you out to clip your friend’s property in half. Even if she’s laughing and taking an iPhone pic while it all goes down.

In short I perched on her kitchen stool and used baby scissors to slowly work my way around the perimeter, simply clipping the little threads that hold the front side of the duvet cover to its back side (I did not in fact cut any of the fabric). Much like a seam ripper, this worked slowly but surely, and soon sufficient I was left with two nearly identical sides (one had button holes and one had buttons, but otherwise they were the same).

Obviously, the duvet cover has to have the same patterned or colored fabric on both sides for this to work (essentially, you are dividing it and then marrying each to a large flat sheet in the color of your choice). We went with white cotton flat sheets, which I grabbed at Target for $8 each. The key is to match the fabric type whenever possible (sewing two 100% cotton sheets together without any stretch makes for a more cohesive duvet without any puckering) and then simply choose a color that works with your pattern or color.

Oh and get the flat sheets a size up from your duvet. I got full-sized sheets for these twin-sized duvet panels because the sheet needs to be AT LEAST as wide and as long as the duvet cover panel, or it is going to look majorly wonked.

Step Two: Wash & dry your flat sheets a few times (to get any shrinking out of the way). Then lay out your sheet with the duvet cover panel on top and trim the sheet to be the same size as the duvet cover, leaving an extra inch around any side that you are cutting, which will likely be 2 of the 4 sides (the other two will not have a cut edge because they’ll maintain their original hemmed edge). That extra inch on those two sides is so you can hem/finish them for a clean look and to prevent fraying (simply fold over the last inch of fabric on that side and stitch that fold in place with your machine). You will want to hem any cut sides BEFORE you join the sheet to the duvet cover.

Feel free to have a chihuahua inspect your work as you go.

Step Three: You will then want to stitch THREE out of four of your duvet cover sides back together (all but the short side that has existing buttons or button holes from the original duvet cover). But you want to do this INSIDE OUT, so your seams are hidden inside when it is right side out. I in short placed the duvet cover pattern-side-up on the machine and then laid the white sheet face-down against it (making sure I was lining up the sides that are the same size with each other).

You will essentially be left with a GIANT PILLOWCASE, which will look amazingly clean and neat when you turn it right side out (even if your lines are not perfectly straight, the duvet insert will fluff in there and all will be forgiven). But what do you do with that open end? You know, the one that stays open so you can stuff the duvet insert in there? Hmmm…

Step Four: Feel your anxiety ratchet up, but then investigate the situation. The original duvet cover had left only about 1/3rd of that side open in the middle, so I turned everything back inside out again and sewed those outer corners together the same way I had done the other three sides, leaving simply the middle third of the duvet cover gaping open.

Step Five: The original duvet cover had used buttons to close the gap, so it meant by splitting them apart I had one cover with buttons (but no holes) and another with holes (but no buttons). So on the latter, I simply sewed these brown buttons onto the white side wherever there was an existing button hole on the patterned side. A moment of silence for John’s old pair of cargo shorts that heroically donated these buttons.

Oh, and the trick here was to sew the buttons on the INSIDE hem of the white sheet, that way you can button it in a way where the duvet cover sort of folds over itself to hide the buttons. I feel like that is weird to explain / show, but if you’ve ever had a duvet cover like this you will know what I mean. The buttons and holes in short hide themselves so it looks like this when you button it:

Step Six: Now the other duvet cover (the one with buttons, no holes) scared me a little more. I had never made a button hole before, so I simply winged it after staring at the “pro button holes” on the wrapped up duvet cover I had simply completed (side note: I truly hope someone finds this post by Googling “pro button holes”). It appeared as if someone had simply made a small slit in the fabric and then did a bunch of little knotted loops of string around all sides of the opening so it would not fray or rip over time. I am sure there is a fancy term for that kind of stitch. Perhaps knotted whipstitch?

So after I made my little slit I in short simply did tons and tons of looped knots around the whole perimeter (I went around it a few times over to make sure it was all pleasant and covered so it hopefully would not have a bunch of frayed strings sticking out after one washing). They were not nearly as lovely as the pro button holes (#SEO)…

… but they worked like a charm. And once the buttons were tucked into the holes, well, the buttonholed duvet cover looked simply as good as the buttoned duvet cover – which was a giant relief since there were more than a few moments of doubt.

So that is how this girl (points to self with thumbs while grinning the grinchiest grin you’ve ever seen) made one duvet cover into two – all without in fact launching the sewing machine out the window. Not gonna lie, there were a few threats of that happening, but it is is still sitting fairly in the guest room.

Also, in case it was not clear from the photos, her son IS OBSESSED WITH DINOSAURS. As in, he can name like 10,000 and thinks I am hilarious when I say things like “oh is that a brontosaurus?” (“no Aunt Sherry, that is a brachiosaurus! And this is an apatosaurus and this is a plesiosaurus!”).

And aside from grabbing those playful little shark and dino wall heads and a new T-Rex lamp, the M.O. of the room so far is simply trying to use what they already have – like their existing rug and an old woven side table as the nightstand. And I am glad to have helped by magically (if by magically, you mean semi-nervously and sweat-i-ly) turning one lonely duvet into a matching set.

To check out more of my enjoy/hate fueled posts about sewing, here is how I:

• sewed a patchwork quilt for my daughter
• made a little stitched quilt for my son a few years later
• sewed a beanbag pouf (Burger is hilarious in these pics)
• made curtain panels for the dining room (it is straightforward!)
• used two cloth napkins to make accent pillows
• made a drapey pom-pom-fringed canopy over our daugher’s bed

*This post contains affiliate links